Edge Of The Cliff
by NovaCaine9923
Summary: When Howleen Wolf tries to commit suicide by jumping off the edge of a cliff, her family and friends try to figure out why. THIRD IN A SERIES TO "WHO,WHAT,WHEN,WHERE,WHY?"
1. Chapter 1

Summary: When Howleen Wolf tries to commit suicide by jumping off the edge of a cliff, her family and friends try to figure out why. THIRD IN A SERIES TO "WHO,WHAT,WHEN,WHERE,WHY?"

Edge Of The Cliff:

A Monster High Fanfiction by Nova Caine

Chapter 1: It's all fun and games until someone goes missing

 _Suggested Track: How To Save a life- The Fray_

It was a gorgeous summer afternoon.

The community center was alive with noise, for a group of teenagers were having a get together. The idea was suggested by Frankie Stein, who was now very glad that she had thought of the idea. Everyone was having a good time while chatting, playing pool and eating the snacks provided there.

"Do you know why Valentine couldn't come?" Heath Burns asked Clawd Wolf, who was sitting in the corner with Draculaura.

Clawd simply shrugged. "Don't know. He's probably busy again," Clawd turned to Draculaura, suddenly confused. "What has he been doing lately? Do you know?"

"He's studying to be a vet or something," Draculaura explained. "That's what he told me, anyway. That or he's taking care of his daughter."

"Wait," Heath spoke up, alarmed. "Valentine has a daughter? How'd that happen?"

Draculaura and Clawd exchanged worried glances, remembering Valentine had told them not to mention anything about Anne Marie to anyone else. Before things got more awkward, Abbey showed up, holding hers and Heath's son, Icer.

"He want you," Abbey told Heath, handing the small child over.

"Hey, buddy!" Heath crooned, his attention now focused on his son. "Do you like being here?"

Icer grabbed onto his father's shirt, looking at him and cooing with excitement. Heath smiled down at his little boy, leaning down and planting a kiss on his head.

"You're a good dad, Heath," Clawd remarked as Draculaura got up to fuss over the baby like she usually did.

Heath gave Clawd a grin before Draculaura began to talk to Icer softly and admire his little claws. Abbey shooed her away after a moment, saying she was frightening Icer.

"Yo, Clawd," Clawdeen tapped her brother's shoulder, a concerned look on her face. "Where's Howleen?"

Clawd quirked an eyebrow. "She's not with you?"

Clawdeen shook her head. "Nope. She might be sick. Remember, she fell asleep on the way here?"

Before Clawd could answer, Twyla suddenly came scurrying up to the wolf siblings. "Are you looking for Howleen?"

"Yeah," Clawdeen nodded. "Do you know where she is?"

"No, sorry," Twyla sighed. Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She picked it up, and her eyes grew wide with anxiety. "Oh, dear!"

"What?" Clawd asked nervously. Twyla handed the older wolf the phone, showing him the text she got.

It was a text from Howleen. All it said was,

" _Bye_ "

"Is everything all right?" Draculaura asked, seeing how concerned her boyfriend was. Clawd handed the phone back to Twyla and stood up.

"We have to look for Howleen. Something could be wrong with her," Clawd gave Draculaura a kiss, but she grabbed the collar of his shirt and wouldn't let him leave.

"What's going on, Clawd? Please tell me." Draculaura demanded, a little irritated.

Suddenly, Clawdeen looked down at her phone and cried out, " _NOOO!_ "

"Clawdeen?!" Clawd tried to touch his sister's shoulder, but she shook him away and began to bolt off.

"She's in trouble!" Clawdeen shouted, running up the stairs. "She just texted me and said she'd be gone soon!"

"What!?" Draculaura gasped, dashing upstairs after her friend. Twyla and Clawd followed as well.

Once they were outside the building, Clawdeen began sniffing around. "Come on, Clawd! Help me catch her scent!"

The two werewolves searched for a scent for a while, and then Clawd exclaimed, "This way! Towards the woods!"

The group of four hurried along, running through the woods while trying to avoid old logs and large stones. They stopped for a moment, and began calling for their missing companion.

" _STOP IT, HOWLEEN! COME OUT!_ " Clawdeen howled. " _IF THIS IS A PRANK, IT ISN'T FUNNY!_ "

Finally, Twyla pointed ahead and gasped. "Up there! Look, on Black Widow's Peak!"

Black Widow's Peak, a fearful, towering cliff right above the lake had been a popular hiking spot for years. But since an accident had happened years earlier involving a young family of normies, the spot was closed down and marked with a "DO NOT ENTER" sign. But young Howleen had clearly not obeyed.

The young werewolf was making her way up the steep slope, stopping every now and again to take a breath. She wasn't going very fast, so this made it easy for her brother and sister to follow her.

The two older wolves went unnoticed by the young wolf until Clawdeen shouted, "Howleen! What are you doing!?"

Howleen whipped around, eyes full of fear. She soon began to book it up the stony trail and Clawd and Clawdeen chased after her. Howleen ran until she collapsed at the very top of the cliff, just inches away from tumbling into the lake. Her siblings stopped a few feet away from her, staring at their younger sister in complete confusion.

"Howleen, why are you up here?" Clawd asked, trying to get closer to his sister.

Howleen's expression changed from afraid to depressed and stone cold. She stood up on shaky legs, trembling as she turned around and looked out on the lake. She took a step forward. One more step and she would plunge into the large body of water. However, this did not happen.

Clawdeen finally realized what her sister's intentions were. "Howleen, are you gonna jump?!"

In an instant, Clawd ran up and snatched Howleen in his arms, just as she was about to throw herself into the water. Howleen yelped in alarm and promptly began biting and scratching at her brother's arm.

Getting a safe distance away from the edge, Clawd knelt down on the ground and just held his sister close, waiting for her to run out of energy.

Howleen soon began to whimper, and after a moment, she broke down completely. Sobbing violently, she buried her face in Clawd's chest and let out all kinds of emotion, her shoulders shaking as she did so.

Clawd stared at his sister, completely shocked. Howleen had seemed fine that morning. Sure, she slept in later than she usually did and didn't eat most of her breakfast, but other than that she didn't act differently.

Clawdeen cupped her hands over her mouth and shook her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she simply whispered, "Why? Why, Howleen?"

At this moment, Draculaura and Twyla showed up, both extremely worried. "What happened?" Draculaura asked, seeing the upset looks on the faces of the others.

Clawd stood up slowly, helping his sister on her feet. He took a tissue out of his pocket and dried Howleen's tears before removing his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. Sniffling, Howleen rested her head on her brother's chest and let out a heavy sigh. After a long, dreadful silence, Clawd swallowed hard.

"Somebody call the police."

 **Hello, me again! Sorry this is depressing, but hopefully it got you hooked!**

 **This is third in a series to my first story, "Who,What,When,Where,Why?", so there will be a lot of references to that and to the other story "Once Upon A Nightmare."**

 **So, what did you think? Why do you think Howleen tried to do what she did? Be sure to let me know in your review (and please review)!**

 **Stay tuned, fellow monsters!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: For The Love of God, Why?

 _Suggested Track:_

"Did she say why?"

The psychologist sighed, shaking his head sadly. "She won't say a word. The nurses are doing a physical on her to make sure she doesn't have any health problems."

Harriet, the mother of the wolf family, just buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "I still don't know why she would do this! She-she's always been a sweet, pretty little wolfie. This is just so…sudden!"

Harriet's husband, Clawke, wrapped an arm around his wife, sighing. "It's very hard to process. We all find it hard to believe. I mean, she has been acting strangely, but…"

"Describe 'strange'," The psychologist inquired, rubbing his chin in interest.

As Clawke described every aspect of Howleen behavior that he had noticed recently, Clawd, Clawdeen and their youngest brother Clawnor all sat silently in a separate corner of the waiting room. They had nothing to say to one another, for the police had asked them all kinds of questions regarding the incident, and now they were all just so tired of talking.

Clawnor, however, still was very confused. He tugged his brother's sleeve to get his attention, and after about ten seconds, Clawd answered.

"What is it?" his voice was, just like him, worn out.

"What do you think is wrong with Howleen?" Clawnor asked.

Clawd sighed, looking out the window into the parking lot. "I don't think anything. She could have a lot of problems. Could be bullying, anger, or just plain depression. Happens to a lot of monsters."

Clawnor fell silent, then spoke up again. "Will she be okay after this?"

Clawd looked up, staring off into nothing. "I don't, Clawnor," He admitted softly. "I just don't know."

Clawdeen just stared at the cover of a fashion magazine without interest. She closed her eyes after a moment and leaned her head back. She whispered after a moment, "Was there anything I could've done?"

Clawd suddenly covered his face with his hands, choking out, "I-I don't know! Everybody stop asking me things!"

The three fell silent once again, until a nurse entered the waiting room. "Are you Howleen's family?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Harriet stood up quickly. "Yes!"

The nurse nodded simply. "Come with me."

Harriet and Clawke followed the nurse down the hallway, leaving the children alone. After a moment, Clawd stood up.

"Clawdeen, stay here with Clawnor," he told her, but Clawdeen grabbed his arm.

"She's my sister, too!" Clawdeen snarled.

"Yeah!" Clawnor barked. "Why can't I see her?"

Clawd tried to argue, but realized it was hopeless. "Fine. Come on, let's go."

Eventually, they found what room their sister was in. Clawd entered first, seeing his parents with Howleen at her bedside. Harriet had her arms around her young daughter, kissing her forehead tenderly and murmuring soft, gentle words. Howleen stared at the bandages around her wrists with tired eyes, absent-mindedly picking at the strips cloth that covered her evidence of self-harm.

Clawdeen took one look at the situation, and tears began to flood down her face. She ran to her sister and right away grabbed her in her arms.

"Howleen! Oh, Howleen, how are you!?"

Howleen hugged her sister back, her eyes slipping shut. She then said in a tiny, quiet voice, "I wanna go home."

Harriet rubbed Howleen's back, sniffling. "It's all right, baby. You'll be home soon enough."

Stillness fell over the room, and then a nurse entered.

"Okay, everyone," she sighed. "I have news, and it would be good news but given the current circumstance and especially her age I don't think it is."

Howleen remarked softly, "I know what it is."

What the nurse said next would change everything for everyone involved:

"Howleen is pregnant."

 **Surprised? I bet you are!**

 **Sorry this was so short. I'm having a lack of creative juices at the moment. But for now, just tell me what you think so far! What are you predictions on what will happen next? How do you think Howleen ended up this way? Who's responsible? Give me your theories in you review!**

 **Until next time, see you later, fellow monsters!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Questions, so many questions

 _Suggested track: Lithium - Evanescence_

Harriet let out a shriek of disbelief. " _WHAT!? NO!_ "

Howleen buried her face in her hands, just shaking her head and whimpering. The others just stared at Howleen in pure confusion and shock.

"W-why didn't you say something?" Clawdeen asked, blinking back some hot tears she felt welling up.

Howleen wiped her eyes with her bandaged wrist, sobbing. "I'm sorry!"

The nurse watched the scene sadly. "Would you like to think about an abortion? I can set up a date for you."

Howleen did not answer. She continued to sob pitifully, and her mother looked up at the nurse after a moment. "We'll think about it."

The nurse nodded solemnly and left the family alone, closing the door behind her.

After a few minutes, Howleen finally calmed, and Clawd quietly approached her. "Howleen? Sis, you don't have to tell us right now if you don't want to, but what happened?"

For a moment, it seemed like Howleen wouldn't talk about her experience. However, she soon began to speak.

"Three weeks ago, when I went to hang out will Twyla at the bowling alley, I had to walk home because I didn't have a ride,"

"Wait," Clawd cut in, a little surprised. "What do you mean you didn't have a ride? I could have gotten you!"

Howleen looked up, glaring at Clawd menacingly. "I _did_ call you. You were too busy making out with your ghoulfriend to answer me."

Clawd's face fell. He remembered that. At the time, he figured he could just call her back later, so he ignored her call. Now he wished he hadn't.

"I'm so sorry," Clawd said softly. "I should've picked up."

Howleen's look softened, and she leaned forward best she could and hugged her brother tightly. After some silence, she continued.

"I was walking down the street and I saw these boys," she leaned back into her pillow, staring up at the ceiling. "There were two of them. One had long red hair and he was wearing an ugly suit and tie. The other one had short, brown hair and a black jacket with no shirt. And they were," Howleen took a breath, her eyes becoming downcast. "They were both vampires."

Harriet shook her head sadly. "Oh, no…oh, no! What did they do to you?"

Howleen sighed, turning away. "Well, first they started hootin' at me, and whistling and calling things like, 'come're doggie!' and 'I got a treat for you!'. First, I was ignoring them. I kept walking until one ran up behind me and grabbed my arm, and…" she winced at the memory. "Then I blacked out. I don't remember anything after that, except…"

"Except what?" Clawdeen asked, rubbing her sister's arm.

Howleen brushed a lock of hair out of her face, looking around. "Anyone got pen and paper?"

Clawk nodded and handed his daughter a sticky note and a pen. Right away, Howleen drew a smiley face with a pair of fangs sticking out of the corners of its mouth and underneath it the letters, "TVC". She handed the picture to her mother, who raised an eyebrow.

"What is this?" she asked.

"I saw that when I woke up," Howleen explained. "I was in an alley and that was spray painted on the wall. I was tired and thirsty and sore in…some places," she blushed a bit, but nevertheless continued. "My phone said it had been twenty minutes since I left the bowling alley, so I just went home."

"And you didn't tell any of us?" Clawdeen asked, sounding almost betrayed.

Howleen shrugged. "Well, I didn't know if I should've said something. I didn't know if it was a prank or something, and I…" she swallowed hard, her eyes becoming moist. "I didn't think you would believe me."

Silence fell over the room once again, and Harriet squeezed her daughter's shoulder lovingly. "Oh, my poor baby."

Howleen buried herself in her pillow and pulled the blanket up over her head. "C-can I just be alone for a while?"

Harriet nodded, giving her daughter another kiss. "Of course, sweetie."

Clawd, without anyone noticing, picked up the sticky note with the symbol Howleen had drawn. Slipping it into his pocket, he was determined to find out who had done this to his sister.

The next day, Clawd and Draculaura were having a lunch date up at the Maul. The moment they picked a table and seated themselves, Clawd pulled out the sticky note and showed it to Draculaura.

"Do you know what this is?"

Draculaura was very taken aback. "Where did you get that?!"

"Howleen drew it," Clawd explained. "She said she saw when she woke up in that alley."

Draculaura had heard about the incident earlier, so she knew what Clawd meant. However, seeing the symbol made her realize that this situation was a whole lot worse than what she had thought.

"Clawd," she said finally, her voice trembling. "That's the symbol for The Vampire Clan, or the TVC."

"Who are they?" Clawd asked, very concerned.

"They're a gang," Draculaura said. "They're like a mafia, ruthless, scary and dangerous."

Clawd went quiet for a few moments before snarling, "Tell me where to find them! I'll end them for raping my sister!"

Draculaura suddenly grabbed Clawd's hand. "No, Clawd! They're too dangerous! They could kill you very easily!"

Clawd exhaled loudly, dropping his head down. "I have to kill them. I _have_ to."

"You don't," Draculaura said softly, taking her boyfriend's furry paw and pressing it against her cheek. "Please, do yourself and favor and don't fight them."

Clawd kissed her hand tenderly, but deep down he knew those bloodsuckers would pay. He would make sure of that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Hotel Of Horrors (part one)

 _Suggested Track: Snow White Queen - Evanescence_

About a week after Howleen's suicide attempt, Clawd and Clawdeen organized a little investigation to track down TVC. Clawd had intended the investigation to be much like the one for Harmony's murder, but since the circumstances were different this was either going to be really easy or really difficult.

It also didn't help that not all of the original investigation team could be there. Abbey needed to stay home to care for Icer, Howleen was out for obvious reasons, Valentine could not be reached, and Draculaura was at a family reunion. So, it was just Clawd, Clawdeen, Heath, Jackson and Frankie, though soon Duece offered to tag along. The six students met near the part of town where Howleen's incident occurred.

"Are you sure we wanna be out here?" Jackson asked nervously. "This is a really bad part of town."

Clawd scanned each building silently before growling, "Whatever it takes, those idiots will pay."

"So, how do we start?" Duece inquired, grimacing when he noticed a smashed heroin needle on the ground in front of him. "Can we start looking for clues or something? This is making me uncomfortable."

Frankie suddenly had an idea, and she turned to the rest of the group. "I have an idea! How about we split up? We can get into separate groups and check out different areas."

Clawdeen nodded. "I like that idea. And if we see something interesting, we can just text or call each other."

They spilt into three groups of two: Clawd and Clawdeen, Duece and Heath, and Jackson and Frankie. They each went their separate ways and began to look around.

Jackson and Frankie soon found themselves lurking through a dark alleyway littered with old alcohol containers and trashcans. Jackson chewed on his lip nervously.

"I don't think we're supposed to be here, Frankie. I mean- look!" he pointed to a nearby sign that simply read, "NO HUMANS. TURN BACK OR DIE".

Frankie read the sign with a raised eyebrow, but soon something else caught her attention. "Jackson! Look, it's that symbol Howleen drew!"

Sure enough, drawn on the wall in spray paint was a smiley face with a pair of fangs and TVC written directly underneath it. Jackson neared the graffiti, looking it over.

"This must have been where she woke up," Jackson put his hand on the wall, then he had a thought. "What building is this, anyway?"

Frankie and Jackson walked down the alley until they came to the front of the building, and much to their surprise, it was a seemingly abandoned hotel. The windows were boarded up and the paint had peeled.

"Whoa!" Frankie exclaimed with wide eyes. "This is amazing! Do you think someone's here?"

Jackson gave Frankie a somewhat nervous look. "I-I guess there's only one way to find out."

The two exchanged a glance, and began to try the door. It was unlocked, and after much hesitation they entered.

The lobby hadn't been dusted in a while. However, it looked as if someone had been there recently, for there was a small bowl of fresh fruit on the check in desk as well as a laptop. Jackson and Frankie began to explore the area with wide-eyed wonder.

"Wow," Jackson breathed, picking up a dusty book of magic spells up off the check in desk. The book was, judging by the date, almost fifty years old.

Frankie suddenly heard a creaking sound and grabbed Jackson's arm. "What was that?!"

They remained very silent, and when there was nothing, Frankie released his arm. "Sorry," she muttered sheepishly.

"Don't be sorry, dear!" an obnoxiously loud female voice roared out.

Jackson let out a shriek and dropped the book he had been holding. Frankie looked up in alarm, seeing somebody standing by the elevator.

She was a small, yet skinny female vampire. She had long, bleached white hair that cascaded down to her waist along with a copious amount of make-up and a shimmering, red skirt. She grinned at them, her red eyes glittering.

"So sorry I startled you, poor things," she swaggered towards them, stopping directly in front of Jackson. She appeared to be sizing him up. "What brings you two here?"

Frankie cleared her throat, taking a step back from this stranger. "Um, we're –uh- looking around,"

The vampire's grin widened almost maliciously. "I see. Well, my name is Eris. What do they call you two lovely children?"

"I'm Frankie, and this is Jackson." Frankie tried her best to smile, but it was difficult since Eris's overwhelming amount of perfume was getting to her.

Eris suddenly reached out and stroked Jackson's face wit the back of her hand. "Shall I give you both a tour?"

Before either of them could respond, Eris grabbed them both by the hands and led them into the elevator. "Come along!"

The elevator doors closed, leaving Frankie and Jackson in a tight space with Eris, and this made them extremely uncomfortable. Jackson tried his best to avoid Eris's red gaze, and soon his eyes shifted upon a plaque of the elevator wall.

The plaque said simply, "GRACIOUSLY DONATED BY ERIN AND VAMPIRA"

Jackson quirked an eyebrow. _What?_

The elevator let out a soft 'ping', and the doors slid open. Showing off her fangs that were nearly as white as her hair, Eris strode into the hallway with outstretched arms.

"Welcome to TVC!" she announced. "This is a shelter for poor, sickly and abused vampires who have no one left to turn to," at this moment, Frankie and Jackson knew that something was bound to go wrong.

Eris led them down the hallway, and hotel room doors began to creak open as the group passed. A small child even became visible to Jackson for a moment, but the poor creature was quickly ushered inside by its mother.

Eris soon led them to a double-door hotel room with the words "PRESIDENTAL SUITE" written in faded letters on a plaque. The vampire woman opened the door with ease and let the two teenagers in, revealing the tackiest room Frankie was sure she had ever laid eyes upon. The walls were painted bright gold, and the floor was decked in neon pink carpeting. A bright purple hope chest covered in several items of clothing including a woman's thong didn't help either.

Jackson's attention, however, drew quickly to two young vampire men sitting on a cheetah print couch in the middle of everything watching a soap opera on an old TV. Jackson tried to remember what Clawd had said regarding the two vampires Howleen had seen before she was attacked:

" _One had long red hair and he was wearing an ugly suit and tie. The other one had short, brown hair and a black jacket with no shirt."_

A wave of fear and excitement washed over Jackson when he realized these two vampires fit that description exactly.

"You moron!" the red haired one hollered at the TV while tossing some popcorn at the screen. "Why would you dump her!? She's rich!"

The brown haired one in the black jacket turned around, seeing Eris with two newcomers. He stood up immediately and went to greet them.

"Why, hello, there!" he smiled, showing an impressive pair of fangs. "Who are these, Eris?"

Eris reached up and ran her greasy fingers through Frankie's hair with a smile. "These adorable love bugs have just come to take a tour of our home! Why not introduce yourselves?"

"Of course!" the vampire boy smiled, offering Jackson a handshake. "The name's Damien. What's your name?"

Jackson took the handshake, feeling himself quiver with fear. "My-my name's Jackson,"

"And I'm Frankie," she shook Damien's hand as well. Though she was somewhat afraid of Damien, he did seem very charismatic and friendly.

"That over there on the couch is Graverobber," Damien gestured to the red haired vampire, who in response whistled at Frankie.

"Damn!" Graverobber stood up, coating his fingers in saliva while winking at her. "Somebody better call a cop, 'cause you got fine written all over you!"

"Please don't scare her, Graverobber," a gentle, yet firm female voice scolded from a corner of the room.

Neither Jackson nor Frankie had noticed the small, dark-haired girl sitting at drawing desk near the window. She looked to be a normie, but when her eyes locked with Frankie's, she flashed a shy smile and proved she was a vampire.

Frankie liked her immediately, and went to introduce herself. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Anna," she almost whispered, resting her hand in Frankie's for a moment rather than shaking it. "I'm Damien's girlfriend."

In response, Damien walked up and put his arm around Anna, squeezing her tenderly. "Isn't she just precious? I'm so lucky to have her," The two shared a kiss, but Anna looked unhappy once they broke away. This concerned Frankie, but she said nothing.

Meanwhile, Jackson texted Clawd, simply saying,

" _We found them. We found the guys your sister saw."_

 **Yet another cliffhanger! Man, I suck, don't I?**

 **So, your thoughts? Please review and tell me what you think Eris's intentions are. Is she good? As she bad? How about the others? Tell me what you think!**

 **Until next time, fellow monsters!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Hotel Of Horrors (part 2)

 _Suggested Track: Business Of Paper Stars- Hawthorne Heights_

A trash can full of old food crashed to the concrete ground as Heath stumbled around and grabbed the wall for support. Duece promptly rushed over and grabbed his companion's arm.

"Heath, be careful!" Duece hissed, tugging his friend along. The two turned the corner and immediately met up with Clawd and Clawdeen.

"In there," Clawd stated firmly, gesturing to the building. "It's an old hotel, and apparently its TVC's headquarters."

Heath studied the age-worn building, and asked, "How do we get in?"

Clawd tapped his chin in thought, and a nearby dumpster grabbed his attention. "I know! Jackson said he's in the presidential suite, three floors up. If we climb up the dumpster, we might reach the second floor, and then we can take an elevator up to the third floor."

Everyone agreed on this idea, and it was put into action. Though it proved to be difficult, what with the window being boarded up and able to give splinters, Clawdeen was the last one to squeeze through the window no problem.

The hallway was musty and gross. The carpeting had suspicious stains everywhere and wheelchair lay tipped over on its side near the elevator. Heath walked over and stared at the wheelchair for a moment before proclaiming, "Something happened here. I hope it was a miracle."

Clawd rolled his eyes. "Heath…"

During all this, something caught Clawdeen's attention. A closet door, marked with the words "VIP PERSONNEL ONLY. DO NOT ENTER", stood out from all the other hotel doors. Clawdeen sniffed deeply, and managed to catch the strong scent of blood, along with a mixture of chemicals. She didn't want to enter the room, but suddenly found herself turning the handle and looking inside.

Clawdeen couldn't even tell what she was seeing at first. They looked like bottles of alcohol or medicine, but she soon realized it was blood, and a lot of it. Each bottle had a label written in poor handwriting, and the first few bottles were simply named, "Normie". Clawdeen backed away a little, eyes widening as she scanned the rest of the names. They soon went from "normie" to "chupacabra", and much to her horror, "werewolf". The werewolf bottles had a sign above them directing anyone who came into contact with them not to touch. Seeing this made Clawdeen quickly back out and slam the door shut.

The door slamming caught Clawd's attention, and he looked over at his startled sister. "You okay?"

Clawdeen couldn't answer. She couldn't think of any words that could describe what she had just seen.

Finally, she rasped, "These vampires are awful."

Before anyone could respond to that, a door suddenly burst open and a hissing vampire leapt out and grabbed Duece by the arm, most likely with the intention of eating him. Duece ,however, reacted quickly and petrified his attacker, looking at the vampire in awe.

"My God!" Duece exclaimed, looking at the hunk of stone in shock. "This little bastard is skinny! He might as well just be a skeleton!"

It was true. The poor creature was skin and bones (well, stone, now). Until that moment, nobody present at that time could've imagined any creature could be so skinny.

The group stared for a few more minutes, before Clawd turned and made his way to the elevator. "Come on; let's go, before any other creeps try to get us."

They entered the elevator and set it to go up a floor, and none of them ever forgot what they had seen that day.

Meanwhile, Frankie and Jackson were smiling awkwardly and trying not to be utterly disturbed by their new acquaintances.

"…and in the lump, they found teeth and a spinal cord," Graverobber explained with wide eyes as he motioned to the stitches on his neck. Jackson grimaced as Graverobber talked more of his various, "medical mysteries". The red haired vampire leaned closer, his voice becoming quieter and darker. "Yes. My twin was inside that lump."

Jackson nodded slowly, mouth agape. "Uh huh. I see. You should get that checked out."

Graverobber agreed. "Yeah."

Damien cleared his throat, stopping Graverobber from telling another story. "Does anyone want anything to drink?"

Frankie nodded. "Okay, sure,"

Damien disappeared into a kitchenette and came back with a mysterious white carton labeled, "BLUE DRINK". He poured a few glasses and passed them among the group.

Jackson refused to touch his drink while Frankie hesitantly took a sip. She instantly made a face. It was too sugary and sweet, and it smelled faintly of rubbing alcohol.

"How do you drink this stuff?" Frankie asked Anna in a very quiet voice. Anna sighed, taking a gulp of the liquid.

"Blood has sugar, glucose," Anna explained softly. "Something vampires need to survive. When we don't get enough blood, we drink this. It has a lot of sugar."

"Now," Eris strutted to the center of the room with a box, and set it down on the table. "Who wants to model my new speedo and thong collection?"

There was a pounding at the door, and Eris suddenly became enraged. " _WHAT DID I TELL YOU LITTLE BITCHES!?_ " she screamed, stalking to the door. " _NOBODY'S ALLOWED TO VISIT US UNTIL MEAL TIME!_ " she flew the door opened, only to be face to face with Clawd.

Clawd pushed her away, shoving right past her and snarling, "I found you! Now you're all gonna pay for raping my sister!"

Graverobber jumped up on the hope chest, kicking off the clothing and grabbing Clawd's face. "Was your sister the little squeaky wolf with the weird hair?" he laughed. "How do you figure that was rape?"

Clawd punched Graverobber in the face, knocking him to the ground. "She doesn't remember it, meaning you drugged her!"

Damien scoffed, flipping off Clawd. "Stupid mutt! Just because she doesn't remember it doesn't mean she didn't like it!"

Clawd looked up, his attention quickly going from Graverobber to Damien. Roaring, he leapt at Damien, but the vampire gave chase around the hotel room. This went on for a while before Clawd finally caught him and pinned him down. Eyes full of rage, Clawd squeezed his paw around Damien's neck and glared at him menacingly.

"So, it was you!" Clawd growled, tightening his grip.

Damien shook his head, gagging. "N-no!" He forced out after a moment. "It wasn't me! It was Aleasă a Inimii!"

Clawd furrowed his brow. "Who is that!?"

Before Damien could answer, Clawd suddenly felt a searing, sharp pain in his shoulder. A flash of panic rushed through him when he realized he might have been bitten. But when he looked behind him, he saw Anna standing there sticking a syringe in his arm and collecting his blood. Clawd jerked away and tried to snatch the needle from her hands, but Anna sprinted to the drawing desk and opened up a drawer and tossed the glass vial doing this, the lanky vampire girl climbing onto the desk and pressed the drawer shut with her legs. Clawd was more confused than angry over this. If she wanted his blood, why didn't she bite him?

By this time, Clawd's companions had entered the room. The moment Heath entered, Eris took one look at him and sling-shot a pair of her panties in his direction.

"Catch, fire boy!"

The underwear struck Heath right in the face, and he immediately became furious. "You old bag of rats! I don't want your crusty underwear!" he launched a fireball at her, but she ducked and the flames hit a photograph of what was clearly Valentine hanging of the wall.

Eris shrieked and began to stamp all over the picture. "Look what you've done! My cousin's picture is ruined!"

Heath raised an eyebrow. _Cousin?_

Clawdeen dashed to where Anna was sitting on the drawing desk and tried to push her off. "Get off, scrawny!" Clawdeen snarled. "There's no way you're adding that to the blood collection or whatever!"

Anna suddenly snatched up Clawdeen's wrist and squeezed, hard. Clawdeen hadn't been expecting it to hurt, but when it did, she was very surprised. Clawdeen tried to pull from Anna's grip, but when the young vampire tightened the hold, Clawdeen dropped to her knees and cried out. The noise she made and the sickening popping sound that came from her wrist caught the attention of Duece and Clawd.

Clawd dashed over and pulled his sister up, making Anna release her grip. Anna just stared down at her own hand, as if amazed she could cause that much pain to another creature.

As the group of six escaped the hotel of horrors, Eris screamed after them, " _THIS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN! NOBODY DOES THAT TO THE TVC AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"_

That night, Clawdeen was taken to the hospital and treated for a broken wrist. When she explained to the doctor what had happened, who had attacked her and if he knew anything about TVC, he answered simply:

"I'm sorry. We don't talk about them here."

The next morning, Howleen left the house on her own. Her mother advised her not to because of what happened, but Howleen knew she needed to go alone for this.

The church was empty and quiet. Howleen felt strange going in on a day other than a Sunday, but nevertheless she walked slowly down the aisle and knelt beside the altar.

She looked up at the ceiling, whispering, "What do you think I should do?"

"Listen to me," a deep voice commanded. Howleen jolted, but realized it had just been her pastor, Father Flanagan. Flanagan was a large, gray werewolf with hollow eyes and a long black robe. He was very old, but he was considered by others to be very wise.

Flanagan sat down beside the girl and drew her close, looking at her with compassion. "My dear, I heard of your tragedy, and I want to help. Clawd told me they were vampires, and vampires are horrible, vile, unholy creatures. We must exterminate their race, so please," Flanagan reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. He handed the bottle to Howleen, explaining, "Take these pills. It will ensure that your pregnancy is terminated."

Howleen looked down at the pills, feeling a little sick. "Thank you sir," she managed to say after a moment. She stood up and started to leave, and Flanagan called after her,

"Remember: sin never dies. You must keep killing it, over and over."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Yield For Nothing

 _Suggested Track: Your Star- Evanescence_

Howleen closed the door behind her very quietly as to not alert her family members. She knew that if they knew she had been out by herself, she'd never hear the end of it, even if it was a visit to the church.

Popping her shoes off by the air vent, Howleen slid down on a chair and let out a sigh. As she brought up her foot to massage her swollen ankle, she began to really think. The pills Father Flanagan gave her would get rid of this pain. No more swollen ankles, nausea, and humiliation. All her troubles would vanish, and her life would go back to normal.

Howleen took the pill bottle in her hand and read the back of it. The instructions stated the obvious, about not taking with fruit juice and taking the pill within four months of impregnation. But then, there was a certain part that took Howleen by surprise:

" _You are expected to feel extreme cramping 18 hours after taking this capsule. This is normal; it is your placenta breaking down. Do not be alarmed if you see the fetus leave your body._ "

Howleen grimaced. She hadn't thought about that: there was really a living creature inside of her. Somehow, being pregnant and having a child seemed to be two different things to her. Everyone around her was treating her pregnancy like it was an illness, but when Abbey had given birth to Icer months earlier, everyone treated that like a miracle. As Howleen looked down at her midsection, she began to wonder. If she kept her baby, would it be well received by the others?

"Howleen? What are you doing up?"

Howleen jumped, seeing Clawdeen standing right next to her. Clawdeen's wrist had a bandage on it, evidence of what happened a day earlier.

Clawdeen pulled up a chair beside her sister, reaching out and touching her hand. "Did you get enough sleep?"

Sighing, Howleen pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. "I couldn't sleep. I…went to the church at six."

"Why?" Clawdeen asked in surprise. "You hate that place! You always complain about how creepy it is."

"Well," Howleen looked up at her sister, and showed her the pills. "I went there looking for answers, and Father Flanagan gave me these. Do you think I should take them?"

Clawdeen looked at the pills, her brow furrowing as she quietly read the back. Finally, she concluded, "You shouldn't. And it's not because I want you to keep your kid, you can do what you want with that, but these pills don't look safe. I mean- look!" Clawdeen pointed to the back, showing Howleen what had caught her attention. "It says '18 or older', and they're not FDA approved. I don't know where Flanagan got these, but don't take them."

Howleen nodded understandingly, but looked up at her sister with concern. "You wouldn't care if I kept my baby?"

Clawdeen set the pills to the side, taking a deep breath. "Well…it's your body, it's your choice. But after that, you should probably have someone adopt it."

"I would like to do that," Howleen smiled weakly, but her smile faded away. "But, what if I have my baby, but then I love it so much I won't want to give it away?" Tears filled her eyes, and she closed them and buried her face in her hands.

Clawdeen was unsure of how to comfort her sister, but went with her first instinct and gave her a hug. As Howleen sobbed into Clawdeen's neck, Clawdeen said softly, "Don't worry, it will all be okay."

But, how could she be so sure?

The afternoon soon rolled around. Jackson felt like he need more information on TVC, so as uneasy as it made him feel, he returned to the old hotel.

The door was, once again, unlocked, and Jackson somehow managed to muster up the courage to enter. He felt even more uncomfortable this time, considering he was alone, but he had brought his phone on full charge and made sure that he knew how to find loud, techno music, just in case he needed to give Holt a turn when things got dangerous. It wasn't like he wanted Holt to get hurt, but he knew that if confronted by something threatening, Holt would be able to defend himself more easily and would be able to get away quicker.

Jackson walked very quietly and cautiously around the lobby, looking around to see if anyone might be stalking him. The silence scared him, for he felt that at minute Eris's obnoxiously loud voice would belt something out to him and fright him senseless.

Suddenly, there was a jingling sound and a smack, and a voice exclaimed, "Oh, shoot!"

Jackson yelped, jumping backwards and grabbing the check in desk for support. His heart pounding, he listened for the voice again. There was more silence, and the same voice called out,

"Is someone there?"

Jackson stayed completely quiet, adrenaline still racing through him. he heard footsteps, and soon a female vampire became visible to him. She looked very much like Eris, but with black hair instead of white and more modest clothing.

She looked at Jackson with concern. "Oh, dear. Did I startle you? I didn't mean, to, I just dropped my keys-…" she trailed off, squinting at Jackson. "Hey…are you a normie?"

Jackson managed to squeeze out an answer. "Yes! Well- yeah, s-sort of."

The vampire stared at him for a moment in surprise, but her look softened and she approached him. "My name's Dodi," she smiled warmly, shaking his hand. "What's your name?"

Jackson relaxed. She was nice, and she didn't seem to want to eat him. "I'm Jackson," he nodded. "I was here yesterday with my friends. We got…chased out, though."

Dodi looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. Was that my sister's doing? Eris can be like that sometimes."

It took Jackson awhile to realize what Dodi had just said. "Wait- Eris is your sister?"

Dodi nodded slowly, looking a bit ashamed. "Yes. We're twins. Fraternal, obviously." She giggled a little bit. "I'm older, though."

Jackson nodded understandingly, but then he became a little fearful. "Where is Eris?"

Dodi did not answer for a few minutes. When she did, her answer was simply, "I don't know."

There was an awkward pause, then Dodi reignited the conversation. "Why did you get chased out yesterday?"

Jackson explained to her everything that had happened, about Howleen, their little 'investigation', and how they snuck in and got into a squabble with the vampires in Eris's room. Dodi simply nodded in interest, and when Jackson was done, she sighed. "I'm sorry that happened. I happen to know through Damien's girlfriend, Anna, that Eris has been stalking Howleen for a few months, now."

This surprised Jackson. "Why?"

Dodi shrugged. "I don't know. Anna couldn't say why. If she did…well, I don't like to think of what would happen if Eris found out." Her eyes suddenly became downcast, and she looked away. "Eris has horrible methods of punishment. She's starving out the entire second floor of this hotel for starting a police attack or something. I wasn't there when it happened, but Eris blames them for everything," Dodi wiped her eyes suddenly. She was trying very hard not to break down. "I…I try to bring the second floor vampires food whenever I can, but it's hard. This is the last month of their famine, but they're losing their minds. I just came back from a family on the second floor, and the mother told her children that if she dies, they can eat her. One child is five and the other is seven."

There was a pause. Jackson felt sick inside. "I've…never heard of that happening to vampires."

A tear ran down Dodi's cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. "I wish I could help them. Eris is just too powerful for me." Jackson put a hand on her shoulder, but she moved away. "No, no, it's all right," she assured, pulling a false smile. She cleared her throat, going to the check in desk and unlocking the gate.

She disappeared into the back room and returned with a little golden key. "I'm going to Eris's suite to check on Tessa. Would you like to come, too? You could probably ask her some questions."

Jackson considered this, nodding slowly. "Okay, but, who's Tessa?"

"Did you meet someone yesterday named Graverobber?"

"Yeah."

"That's his girlfriend. She's eight months pregnant and I'm very worried about her," as the two of them stepped in the elevator, Dodi explained, "You see, Tessa has a rare condition where she can't gain any weight. She has to eat every fifteen minutes just to stay alive."

Jackson was very alarmed to hear this. "But…Graverobber, he flirted with my friend, Frankie! And-and he has a girlfriend? He got her pregnant? How will she and the baby live if she has that condition?"

Dodi sighed. "It's very confusing. But, she and Graverobber don't see that as an issue, which concerns me. I'm doing what I can to help them both, though."

They soon arrived at the presidential suite. Dodi unlocked the door and opened it, once again exposing the unattractive design. On the couch lay Graverobber and a blonde vampire girl, and just as Dodi had said, this was a very, _very_ skinny girl. And it wasn't just that she was skinny, either, she was tiny, and her pregnancy looked extremely out of place on her small frame.

Graverobber looked up when Dodi and Jackson entered, and he hissed at them, drawing Tessa protectively in his arms. Dodi gave Graverobber a look.

"Stop it, G. he's not gonna hurt Tessa."

Graverobbber bared his fangs, not taking his eyes off Jackson. "He'd better not touch her," he snarled, resting his chin on Tessa's head. Tessa made a face at her boyfriend.

"Yo, stop it! Not everyone wants to break me, John. Also, you ain't gotta act like everyone's out to get us," she sat up the best she could, reaching over to a cooler next to her and pulling out an ice cream sandwich. Jackson suddenly noticed the long tattoo of a dragon climbing down her arm.

Graverobber looked away a little sheepishly. "Don't use my real name, bitch."

Tessa rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her sandwich. "Yeah, whatever."

Dodi helped Tessa up from the couch. "I gotta give you a checkup, Tess. Come on, now."

Tessa relunctantly followed Dodi into the bathroom with was seemed to be a limp. "Yeah, whateva. After I finish this, ya dig?"

The door closed, and Jackson and Graverobber were left alone together. Graverobber sat up, glaring at Jackson. "Bring any friends, Jackie boy?"

Jackson shook his head. "No. and I'm sorry about yesterday."

Graverobber's look softened, and he moved his spot on the couch a bit and motioned for Jackson to come sit. As Jackson sat beside the vampire, Graverobber smiled at him, which prompted Jackson to ask the obvious question.

"Did you rape Howleen, Graverobber?"

Graverobber's face fell, and he seemed astonished that Jackson would ask that. Finally, he shook his head. "No. I wouldn't do that to Tessa. Also, wasn't that girl ten years old?"

Jackson shook his head. "Nope. Fourteen." He looked around, raising an eyebrow. "Also, where's your friend, Damien?"

Graverobber rolled his eyes. "Don't know, don't care. He woke up this morning and Anna wasn't next to him, and he started flippin' out and screaming bloody murder. He went to go look for her, and they've both been gone for about…" he looked at his watch. "…five hours and twenty minutes."

Jackson nodded. "I hope everything's okay. Also, uh, congratulations. I…didn't know you were having a baby."

Graverobber grinned. "Thank you. Oh, and look what I bought for the baby!" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a mood bracelet. "See? Now, We'll know what the baby's feeling when it cries!"

Jackson forced a grin. "Ah, I see."

Not that far away from the hotel, Howleen Wolf had, once again, left the house without permission. She sat on a bench in the local park, reading a book. She was completely alone, until someone approached her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Howleen looked up, seeing a lanky vampire girl dressed in dark clothing standing above her. Howleen swallowed nervously.

"Okay," she replied after a moment. The other took a seat, and there was an awkward silence.

"Howleen, right?" the girl asked softly. Howleen nodded quickly, somewhat afraid of this newcomer.

"Yep."

"My name's Anna," the vampire smiled, giving Howleen a handshake. "How have you been holding up, Howleen?"

Howleen scoffed, looking away. "Why do you care?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"You know why," Howleen glared at the ground. "I'm a werewolf. You're a vampire. We're supposed to hate each other or something."

Anna suddenly touched Howleen's shoulder. "I don't hate you. In fact, I feel sorry for you. Everything you've had to deal with lately," she looked away, staring off into nothing.

Howleen was silent, then she asked, why did you wanna talk to me?"

Anna took Howleen's hand, staring deep into her eyes. "Don't give up, Howleen. There were times when I tried to kill myself, too, and I felt like giving up. My parents were unkind to me and I had very few friends. But, then I did something weak," Anna looked away, immersing herself in memories. "I went for the first boy who showed interest in me. I barely knew him, but he just seemed so…charming. It wasn't until later, that I realized who and what he really was. I tried to escape, but he bit me and made me his own." Anna's eyes filled with tears. "If I could do it all over again I never would have left my family." She suddenly hugged Howleen tightly, whispering, "It's too late for me. Do what I couldn't do and stay strong!"

Howleen hugged her back, nodding, though she was confused. "I…I will."

" _ANNA_!" a voice called out suddenly. " _ANNA, WHERE ARE YOU!?_ "

Anna jumped, pulling away. "I have to go!" she squeezed Howleen's hand and darted away. "Don't forget what I said!"

Howleen knew she never would. She closed her book, trying to make sense of what just happened.

 **Wooow, that took a long time to write! I think this is my longest chapter so far.**

 **In other news, I'm going away next week to Washington DC to visit my cousins! I'll be there from the 11** **th** **to the 15** **th** **, so during that time there will be no updates. However, I'm going to be vlogging using myself AND my dolls while I'm there and posting my adventures on my youtube channel. So, if you're near the Washington monument or something and you see an awkward red-haired girl trying to film some dolls or herself with an iPad…yeah, that's me. XD you can say if you see me,(or say something really random or weird because that's hilarious), just don't hug me without giving me a heads up, okay? Also, wait until I'm done filming.**

 **Please review! I would love that very much.**

 **Until next time, fellow monsters!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: In Jesus Christ, Amen

 _Suggested Track: Imaginary - Evanescence_

It was eleven o'clock in the morning on a Sunday.

Abbey Bominable rubbed her eyes, stretching as the warm sunlight washed over her through the apartment window. As she brushed some wisps of hair from her face, she noticed Heath whispering something very quietly. Brow furrowing, she sat up, seeing that Heath had brought their baby boy into bed with them. Heath was trying to get Icer to smile, something the little baby had recently started doing. However, Icer just stared at his father curiously and tried to stick his fingers into his mouth. Abbey smiled, stroking Icer's head lovingly.

"Why is he not in own bed?"

Heath gave Abbey a kiss on the cheek, and then he gave one to Icer. "I heard him start to cry, and I didn't want that to wake you up."

Abbey chuckled, picking up the little boy and holding him close. Icer rested his head on his mother's chest and cooed contently, curling his tiny, clawed hand into a fist. Heath wrapped Abbey in his arms, gazing down at his son as well. "He's such a cutie," Heath murmured, letting Icer grab his finger. "I hope he doesn't freeze me, my God."

Just then, Heath's phone on the end table beside him buzzed. Reluctantly, he picked up the phone, seeing it was Clawd. A little surprised, he answered.

"Uh, hey."

"Heath?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, hi there. I'm at my church right now, and we're having a luncheon today at eleven thirty. I wanted to know if you'd like to come."

Heath chewed on his lip in thought. "Okay…a luncheon…that's like a lunch party, right?"

"Yep," Clawd's voice got a little softer all of the sudden. "Abbey can come if she wants, and you can bring Icer, too."

Heath considered this thought before giving Clawd his answer. "I'll ask her and text you her answer, all right?"

"Sounds good," Clawd agreed. "See you there."

"See ya," Heath hung up, resting the phone down next to him and nuzzling his face into Abbey's hair. "Do you wanna go out to lunch in thirty minutes?"

Abbey was a little surprised. "So soon? We just wake up!"

Heath shrugged. "Yeah, but it might be fun…I guess. Clawd's gonna be there. And I'm hungry, so that's another reason why we should go," He then began to tickle Icer's ribs very gently. "What about you, buddy? You wanna go, too?"

Icer bounced up and down excitedly, sticking his tongue out and smiling a little. Heath clapped his hands together at the sight of this. "There we go! You smiled!" he slid out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom. "If you wanna go, get ready, Abbey!"

Abbey sat on the bed, still a little confused. But, nevertheless, she shrugged and went to give Icer his bottle before she prepared to leave.

By the time the luncheon started, the church service was already over. Clawd made sure to invite Heath after the service because he knew that someone like Heath couldn't sit through something that long. Heath wasn't the only Clawd had invited. Duece was arriving, too, but he'd brought someone with him.

"Did he _have_ to bring her?" Clawnor whined to Clawd when Cleo DeNile entered the room. Clawd gave his little brother a look.

"Be nice," he said sharply before going to greet Duece.

Cleo looked around the church when she walked in, scrunching up her nose. "This place could use a cleaning job. I mean, look at the- oh, no!" she jumped, looking in disgust at the gum she had stepped in. "Oh, my Ra! Where am I!?"

Duece helped his girlfriend sit down on the church steps and clean the bottom of her shoe with a disinfectant wipe from his wallet. Clawd took this moment to approach.

"Hey, glad you could make it!" Clawd smiled, shaking Duece's hand.

"Yeah, totally! I'm glad I could come!" Duece broke the handshake and peeled the rest of the gum off Cleo's shoe. "Is that better, babe?"

Cleo sighed. "I suppose. Hopefully I don't step in anything else." She stood up, straightening out her skirt. "Now, where is this luncheon I've heard so much about?"

"Come with me," Clawd said, beckoning the two. "I'll show you around."

Heath had arrived awhile earlier, and he accompanied Clawd around the church with the others. Clawd led the group down a long hallway, where detailed paintings of saints lined the walls. Heath grimaced at a picture of Saint Bartholomew being skinned alive.

"Geez, this place is creepy. And not in a good way." He turned to Clawd, quirking an eyebrow. "How do you come here every Sunday?"

Clawd rolled his eyes. "Because I have to. That's why."

They entered a rather large patio decked with three plush white couches. Beyond the patio's steps and on the church backyard, tables and chairs were being set up, and three older she-wolves were lining up food on the table. The wind blew not too hard, but hard enough to send the white curtains in the patio blowing like thin ribbons in the air. The sound of laughter was present, and a chubby, albino werewolf girl sat up from the couch, giggling and smoothing her ivory hair down. Her cheerful eyes set on Clawd, and she stood up to greet him.

"Hi, Clawd!" She grinned, hugging him. "It's great to see you!"

Clawd smiled, pulling away. "It's great to see you, too," he then gestured to his companions. "I hope you and your dad don't mind, but I brought some of my friends. Guys, this is my pastor's daughter, Felicity."

Felicity shook Cleo's hand first. "Nice to meet you! Oh," she began admiring Cleo's heels. "Those are so pretty! Where did you get them?"

Cleo flipped her hair a bit, putting her hands on her hips and showing off with a smile. "I've had them a while. They were a gift from…oh, I can't remember."

Felicity nodded. "I see!" she suddenly threw her dense arms around Cleo in a tight hug. "You're gonna be _sooo_ happy here!"

Cleo gasped for air as the thick-bodied wolf released her. As Felicity scampered away to the tables, Duece put a hand on Cleo's shoulder. "You okay?"

Catching her breath, Cleo panted out, "That ghoul almost broke my spine!"

At this moment, Abbey caught up with the group and made her presence known by tugging on Heath's ear. "There you are! Been looking for you, naughty boy!"

Heath tried to wrestle from her grip. "Yow! Abbey, let go-hey! Shoulda kept up, honey!"

Icer, whom Abbey was balancing with her free hand, began to whimper, and Abbey released Heath to comfort their son. "Poor mal'chik," she cooed, rubbing Icer's back. "Eto normal'no, papa idiot."

"Abbey, you know I don't understand you when you talk like that." Heath sighed, running his fingers through Abbey's hair.

Abbey simply smirked. "Good."

Clawd picked a table for the group to sit at, and soon Howleen joined them.

"Hey, Howleen," Abbey greeted, patting Howleen's shoulder. "How are doing?"

Howleen looked up, her eyes sad and tired. "I could be better."

Abbey looked at her sadly. "Do not be so sad. Baby can be happy thing, too." She suddenly handed Icer over to Howleen, letting her hold and look at him. Howleen did manage to crack a smile as Icer grabbed the necklace she was wearing and gnawed on it with his gums.

"He's so cute," Howleen murmured, watching Icer play. "Can he…talk yet?"

Heath shook his head. "Nope. He smiles, but he doesn't talk."

Just then, Clawd became aware of somebody standing behind him. He turned around in his chair, seeing Romulus and Brocko. "Oh, hi, you two! Do you wanna sit with us?"

Romulus nodded. "Of course," he and Brocko both pulled up chairs and sat down. "How are you all enjoying this so far?"

Heath shrugged. "Kinda boring, but that's okay."

Duece raised an eyebrow at Brocko. "I didn't know you went to this church, Brocko."

"I don't," Brocko stated, bringing up his drink to sip it. "Romulus invited me."

Once again, Felicity appeared and constricted Brocko in her chubby arms, making him spill some of his drink. "I'm so glad you're here!" Felicity squealed. It was no secret among the wolves that Felicity really, _really_ liked Brocko. However, Brocko was not amused.

"Damn it!" he shrieked in annoyance, grabbing some napkins and soaking up his spilled beverage. Felicity grabbed some napkins as well and began to help him mop up the mess.

"No, no, I'll do it!" she stated, pressing her shoulder uncomfortably close to his. Suddenly, the two stopped to a screeching halt at the sound of a deep, angered voice.

" _FELICITY!"_

Felicity stopped, turning around and looking up into the hollow eyes of her father, Flanagan. Felicity's ears flattened against her head. "Sorry, daddy," she said in what was almost a whisper. Flanagan's eyes narrowed.

"Felicity, I've had enough of your sick, sexual nonsense. Your behavior today has been shameful." Flanagan scolded. "Now, go sit somewhere else. And pull up your blouse, you little whore!"

Felicity bowed her head low in shame, pulling her neckline up. "Yes, Daddy." And with that, she shuffled away.

Brocko watched Felicity go, then he looked up at Flanagan in shock. "Jesus Christ! She didn't even do anything that bad!"

Flanagan suddenly pulled a ruler out of his pocket and smacked Brocko's knuckles with it. "Do not take the Lord's name in vain! It is a sin, and heaven hates a sinner," he then turned to Howleen. "Did you take those pills, dear?"

Howleen shook her head, handing Icer back off to his mother. "N-no, sir."

Flanagan pointed the ruler in her direction. "You must," he walked away, not taking his eyes off Howleen. "You must…"

When he was out of sight, Clawd exhaled loudly through his nose, glaring at his fork. "God, I hate him."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Oh, What a Party

 _suggested track: Chandelier- Sia_

The knock at the door was loud and rather unexpected.

Jackson awoke from his nap and answered _,_ and he was surprised to see Graverobber standing there holding a piece of paper.

"Uh, how do you know where I live?" Jackson asked, somewhat alarmed.

Graverobber shrugged, handing over the piece of paper. "Lucky guess. Also, here's an invitation to a party tonight. It's at the hotel."

Jackson quirked an eyebrow, looking over the paper. "A party? And you're inviting me?"

Graverobber nodded. "Yep, wanna go?"

Jackson chewed on his lip. "I would, but usually when I go to parties, I'm never _me."_

Graverobber didn't understand. "What?"

"Well...you'll know what I mean when I get there."

There was an awkward pause, and Graverobber walked away. "Well, see ya there."

Not that far away, there was a knock on the door of the Wolf family's house. Harriet answered the door and was face to face with Anna.

Anna smiled shyly. "Hi. Is Howleen here?"

Harriet crossed her arms, somewhat suspicious. "Why?"

Swallowing nervously, Anna fiddled with the paper in her hands before handing it over. "If she's here, can you give this to her?"

Harriet took the paper and read it with a skeptical look. It read, " _you are invited to the 150th annual TVC party! Goes from 8:00 pm to whenever!_ "

Harriet nodded. "I see. Well, I'll give it to her."

Anna breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you! Howleen's going to have a great time!" And with that, she left.

Once inside, Harriet approached Howleen at the table and gave her the slip of paper. "Some girl left this for you. What do you think?"

Howleen took the paper, her brow furrowing. "A party? At 8:00?"

Harriet sighed, picking up some plates and heading to the kitchen. "I don't know, lovebug. You might just wanna stay home tonight."

But, Howleen knew that there had to be some reason why she was invited to this party. So, later, she discussed her concerns with Clawd and Clawdeen.

"That's wierd," Clawdeen stated, wrinkling her nose. "You shouldn't go. They probably wanna do something awful to you."

"Unless..." Clawd murmured, rubbing his chin in thought.

Clawdeen gave her brother an irritated look. "Unless what?"

Clawd cleared his throat and presented his idea to his sisters.

"We'll have Draculaura go with her to the party, and while they distract the other vampires, we can break in and maybe find out what really happened to you, Howleen."

Howleen shrugged. "Okay, I like that idea."

"Wait, wait," Clawdeen shook her head in disbelief. "You mean you actually wanna go?"

Howleen puffed out a sigh. "I mean...it might be fun. And maybe I can find out things, too."

Clawdeen looked at her brother for help. "Clawd..."

Clawd gave her a serious look. "Come on. It would be easy. The other vampires would be too busy with the party and we could totally break in."

After exchanging glances with both Clawd and Howleen, Clawdeen sighed in defeat. "Fine. But I'm not gonna be the one calming down Mom after she finds out where we were."

Clawd called Draculaura, and after several minutes of arguing, she agreed.

"But that means you have to let me be on top tomorrow night!" She demanded.

Clawd rolled his eyes. "Yep."

So, at about 8:00 pm, Jackson pulled up in his car with Frankie, Duece and Cleo. Soon, Draculaura and Howleen joined them. Unnoticed around the back, Clawd, Clawdeen, Romulus and Brocko figured out how to sneak in.

Stepping out of the car, Cleo took in her surroundings with a raised eyebrow.

"This old place? Vampires live lives of luxury, and I can say for certain that this place is _not_ luxury."

Duece shrugged, taking Cleo's arm. "It looks different on the inside, believe me."

Jackson looked up, seeing flashing lights up on the roof. "It looks like the party's up there. Now, remember, you guys are here to take note of clues just in case Holt takes over, and he probably will."

Draculaura looked up at the flashing lights with eyes of worry. "TVC is one of the most dangerous gangs around! Are you sure we wanna go in?"

"Hey, it'll be fine," Duece assured. "As long as I'm here, everything's under control."

At this moment, Graverobber came out to greet them.

"Hiya, Jackie!" He exclaimed, giving Jackson an unexpected hug. "Glad you could make it!"

Graverobber's attention was then focused on Howleen. "Hey, I know you! What are you doing here?"

Howleen backed away. She remembered him. "I-I-I got an invitation."

Graverobber nodded. "Okay, whatever. Oh, and sorry about...what happened."

Howleen looked away and muttered something no one understood.

There was an awkward pause, and Graverobber led them into the building. "It's on the roof. Come on, let's go!"

It was the biggest, loudest party anyone out of the group had ever witnessed. Vampires were everywhere, and many of them were drunk. They glanced over at the newcomers in confusion, but said nothing. Howleen was surprised nobody approached her. Usually, if she was in a place with that many vampires, one of them would make some remark to her.

Graverobber looked around, seeing Jackson was gone. "Where'd he go?"

Frankie looked off towards the DJ table. She noticed Holt talking enthusiastically to the female DJ and clapping his hands.

Not knowing how to explain Jackson's transformation to Graverobber, Frankie said simply, "You'll see him around."

Draculaura and Howleen walked around a little without speaking, until Draculaura asked, "How are you feeling? Do you wanna sit down?"

Howleen shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay."

A group of mostly drunk vampire girls rushed over to Draculaura excitedly. "Lala!" One of them exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Draculaura's worries momentarily disappeared and she gave this vampire a hug. "Oh, my goth, how are you?!"

While Draculaura caught up with her old friend, Howleen heard someone calling her name. She looked around and soon realized it was Anna.

Anna was sitting in the pool dipping her feet in the water, and beside her was a smaller, skinnier girl with a round belly.

Howleen approached and sat beside Anna. "Hi, again," she smiled.

Anna put her arm around Howleen and gestured to the other girl. "Howleen, this is Tessa,"

Tessa took a bite of a peach and shook Howleen's hand. "How are ya?"

"W-well, I feel better than I did," Howleen smiled weakly, and tried to break the ice. "Do you have one blue eye?"

Tessa winked at her with that eye. "I guess, yeah. I'm completely blind in this eye."

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously."

Howleen started to feel a little better around these girls. She straightened up as Tessa continued to speak.

"So, Howleen, I heard you're pregnant?"

Howleen's ears flattened against her head. "Uh, yeah."

Tessa smiled, giving Howleen's hand a little squeeze. "It's not so bad. Well, it won't be for you, anyway. You don't gotta eat every fifteen minutes." She then pressed Howleen's palm to her stomach, and the baby inside gave a kick. Howleen gasped.

"Whoa! That doesn't hurt, does it?"

Tessa shook her head, rubbing her stomach tenderly. "No. It just feels like a nudge, like Cricket's saying hi to me."

Anna gave her friend a puzzled look. "Cricket?"

Tessa sighed, getting into a more comfortable position. "That's what John's started calling it. I thought it was weird at first, but now I think it's kinda cute,"

Holween had been told that she wouldn't feel her baby kick until her fourth month of pregnancy, and that by then the baby would also recognize her voice. This thought made her inner battle with abortion grow stronger.

"Howleen," Anna said, yanking Howleen out of her thoughts. "I wanna give you something."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a little round stone. She handed it over, saying, "This is a memory stone. Put this into a hot drink, and when it melts, drink it, and your memories of everything that happened to you will come back."

Howleen took the stone, looking it over. "I'll remember who got me pregnant?"

Anna nodded. "Yes, but don't tell anyone I gave this to you." As Anna drew her arm back to her side, Howleen saw a dark purple bruise on her wrist.

There was silence, then Howleen put the stone in her pocket. "Thank you," she looked away and noticed a refreshment table. "I gonna go get something to eat."

She made her way to the table, avoiding the other party goers and their gazes. Howleen delicately picked up a slice of coconut cake and tried to get back to Tessa and Anna, but a crowd had suddenly formed around the pool and made it impossible to enter, so Howleen found a secluded area to eat her cake in silence. That is, until someone came and stood over her.

"Why, hello, Howleen dear!"

Howleen jumped, seeing another vampire with white hair and a red dress.

"My name is Eris," the woman greeted, leaning closer to look Howleen right in the eyes. Part of Eris's left breast had popped out of her dress and was now very much exposed. Howleen tried not to look.

"We've been waiting for you, love," Eris grinned, stroking Howleen's cheek. Howleen shuddered.

"Okay," was all she got out.

Eris gave her a lipstick caked smile, then walked off, leaving Howleen disturbed and very confused.

After a moment, Howleen looked around to make sure Eris was gone, then threw the remains of cake into the trash. She tried to make her way back to the pool, but bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Howleen apologized quickly. The stranger chuckled.

"Don't be sorry, Howleen."

Howleen looked up, realizing she had bumped into Valentine.

"Valentine!? What are you doing here?"

Valentine smiled, giving Howleen's hand a squeeze. "My cousin owns this building. And geez, I haven't seen you in awhile," Howleen noticed that Valentine had a hard time meeting her eyes when he said this.

She nodded, and the two went quiet for a minute. Suddenly, there was a splash, and someone shrieked, "Oh, my God, Tessa!"

The party quieted as a crowd swarmed around where Tessa had been sitting. The group broke up when Graverobber rushed in, screaming, " _EVERYBODY MOVE!"_

Bending down, he reached in and pulled out Tessa very gently. Tessa stumbled out, dripping wet and looking quite shocked. Graverobber looked her over with a worried expression. "You okay?"

Tessa nodded and murmured, "I slipped,"

Graverobber turned to everyone else, declaring, "She's okay, everyone! She just slipped."

This explanation was accepted, and everyone went about their business. Valentine turned his attention back to Howleen.

"You wanna get away from all the noise?"

Howleen like that idea. "Yeah, okay,"

 **Why, hello there! It's been awhile, hasn't it?**

 **I had a good trip to Washington DC (despite the fact that it was hot enough to kill an elephant), but unfortunately I couldn't find time to take a video. I really wanted to, though.**

 **So, what do you think of this chapter? Sorry it's so long and it ends so abruptly. But still, i'd like feedback if at all possible!**

 **Well, see you next time, fellow monsters!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Talking about Problems while your brother breaks in

 _Suggested track: Young and Beautiful- Lana Del Rey (Fracture design remix)_

 **Warning: this chapter covers topics like Mpreg, sexual abuse, and vicious murders. If this makes you uncomfortable, I sincerely apologize.**

Valentine and Howleen walked down the stairs, ignored by the other party goers. Valentine led his companion to a red door with a black heart painted on the top and took a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door, revealing a small yet cozy bedroom. The walls were painted a deep red and a plush mattress covered in a pink sheet sat in the center of the room. Howleen looked around in confusion.

"This is your room? You mean- you live here?"

Valentine shrugged. "Not really. I come here whenever I feel like I need to get away, and since my cousin owns this place, I come here whenever I want."

Howleen nodded slowly. "Nice,"

Valentine suddenly disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a little basket full of tiny packages. Howleen looked into the basket with a raised eyebrow. "What are these?"

"Little soap packages," Valentine explained, taking a few out to show her. "I found them when I first came here. They're all over fifty years old," he handed her the one he had been holding. "Would you like one?"

Howleen snorted. "Why would I want these?"

Valentine looked a little surprised. "Well…they're vintage! Don't you like vintage things?"

Howleen scrunched up her nose. "I don't like soap that's older than my mom."

"Oh," Valentine looked a way, a little sheepish. "Sorry, I thought you did."

There was an awkward silence, and it made Howleen's heart sink. She wanted to get a good mood going, but she wasn't sure how. Finally, she reached up and flicked a lock of hair out of Valentine's face. "That's okay,"

Their eyes met, and for some reason, it made Howleen feel a little uncomfortable. She broke the eye contact by picking up a little soap and looking it over. "This one says it's strawberry scented."

Valentine nodded. "It is. Most of them are…" he trailed off when Howleen tossed the soap in his direction. However, she missed and hit the wall.

There was a pause, then Valentine picked up another soap and playfully threw it at her. She reacted quickly and ducked, and the soap hit a picture hanging behind her on the wall.

Soon, the two engaged in a soap battle. Little soft, sweet smelling packages flew across the room, hitting the walls and even a nearby mirror a few times. Howleen screamed in laughter, diving on to Valentine's bed and throwing more soap packages in his direction. Valentine leaped on the bed with her and pinned her down, reaching his fingers up and tickling her arm pits. Howleen squirmed around and kicked her feet.

"Ah! No! Stop that!" she squealed, rolling over on her back and playfully swatting him away. Howleen's laughter died down as she caught her breath, and she looked back up at Valentine. "That was fun."

Valentine grinned. "I'm glad," his grin soon faded and he started looking her up from head to toe. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Howleen sat up, looking confused. "Uh, no?"

He stared at her for a long time, and a sound that almost sounded like a laugh escaped his lips. "S-sorry, I-I just…" his eyes suddenly became moist and he looked away, covering his face.

Howleen stared at him for a moment, for she didn't know what to do. It wasn't until his shoulders began to tremble that she scooted over and rested her head on him. "Valentine?" she said softly. "Why are you crying?"

Valentine looked back at her, rubbing her eyes and sniffling. "It's fine. Just…" a strangled sob suddenly burst out of him and he began to weep.

Howleen wasn't entirely sure what to do. She didn't know why he was upset, but she just continued to lie against him and hold him close until he quieted. He took a deep breath and dried his eyes, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," she assured, rubbing his arm tenderly. "And…you don't have to tell me, but…what's wrong?"

Valentine pulled away from Howleen and leaned against the wall behind the mattress. "Jared," he said simply. Howleen's brow furrowed.

"What?"

Valentine looked away, staring off into the past.

"I met Jared a year ago at a gas station. We talked for a few minutes before he offered me a job as a butler. Now, at the time, I didn't need a job, so I said no. he gave me his number anyway and said I could call him just in case. A month went by, and I ended up running away from home, so I was in need of a job. I called Jared and he hired me right away. It wasn't until my second day of work that he told me that he suspected his girlfriend was cheating on him and that he was planning to kill her. And he said that if I ever told anyone, he'd 'pound' me, kill me, and kill my mother."

Howleen cocked her head to the side. "Valentine? Why…why are you telling me all this?"

Valentine swallowed hard, staring down at his hands. "Howleen, remember when I called you and all our other friends after Harmony's funeral? When I told you all who killed her?"

Howleen nodded. "Yeah?"

"Well," Valentine chewed on his lip and brushed some hair out of his face. "Jared…he hurt me. I…I soon found out what he meant by 'pound'."

There was a silence, and Howleen realized what Valentine was talking about. "Oh," was all she could say. "Oh…wow."

Valentine put an arm around Howleen and drew her close. "I was in your situation too, Howleen. And while others might say that they know how you feel, I'm the one who _really_ knows what you're going through," his eyes welled up with tears and he held her tightly. "And I'm so sorry!"

Howleen felt herself getting emotional, too. She hugged him back, whispering, "Y-you…you had a kid?"

Valentine didn't respond for a few minutes. "Yeah," he said finally. "I got pregnant, and I was scared. I went months without telling anyone and I planned to give birth by myself in this room. I never did, though."

Howleen dried her eyes and giggled a little. "Valentine? If you don't mind me askin', did you show?"

Valentine looked a little confused at first, but then he chuckled and shrugged. "A little," he wiped his eyes and smiled at her, and the two clutched each other in a tender embrace.

"You've made me feel so much better, Valentine," Howleen said in a quiet voice.

To Howleen's surprise, Valentine kissed her on the cheek. "You've made me feel better, too."

While vampire and werewolf shared a special moment, the shattering of glass was heard in a separate part of the hotel. One by one, Clawd, Romulus, Brocko and Clawdeen slipped through the broken window and into a dark room. Brocko looked around the room, squinting.

"I can't see! Are you sure this is the right room?"

Clawd nodded, feeling the wall for a light switch. "Yes, I'm positive. Hang on," the lights flickered on, revealing that they were in Eris's suite, but in a different section of the room. To Romulus' left was the drawing desk where Anna had put the syringe of Clawd's blood days earlier. Nudging Romulus out of the way, Clawd opened up the desk drawer, seeing the there was no syringe full of blood, but instead a bunch of papers.

"Let me see those," Clawdeen murmured, taking the papers and weeding through them. They were mostly really old newspaper articles and letters. Clawdeen picked out a letter and read it out loud:

" _Eris,_

 _I thought about your request to have me impregnate Howleen Wolf. And my response- I refuse. I'm on good terms with her family at the moment, and I don't want to ruin that. If they find out that it was me…well, I don't like to think of what Clawd would do. But you probably don't care, do you?_

 _Nevertheless, I said, "no."_

 _Sincerely, Aleasă a Inimii._ "

Clawd pondered what he just heard silently. "I don't know who that is," he concluded finally. "But one of those vampires said that name when I attacked him. Do any of you know that name?"

Clawdeen rubbed her chin. "It sounds Romanian. I bet we could ask Draculaura if the name means anything." She looked through the papers again, and stopped when she saw a newspaper article. "Wait…"

"What?" Romulus asked, coming to look over her shoulder. Clawdeen looked through the new paper clippings with a raised eyebrow.

"All of these are about either Sweeney Todd or Jack the Ripper," she and Romulus exchanged a worried glance. "This is strange."

Suddenly, a voice screamed, " _HEY!_ "

The wolves all turned to the vampire standing in the doorway. It was Damien, and he was looking furious and holding a power drill. He squeezed the button a few times, the loud buzzing ringing through the room.

" _THAT'S IT! THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!"_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Vampire With a Power Drill

 _Suggested track: Lovely Bones- Dead and Divine_

Power drill in hand, Damien lunged at the wolves, and they scattered out of the way. Clawd dashed up behind the enrage vampire and gripped his wrist, keeping his hand still.

Damien struggled in Clawd's grasp. "Let go, stupid mutt!" he kicked and fought, but to no avail.

Clawd slammed Damien on top of the desk, pinning his arms behind his back and wrestling the drill away from him. "Okay, jackass," Clawd snarled, handing the drill off to Brocko. "You'd better tell us who knocked up my sister and why, or else you'll become our new chew toy!"

Damien squirmed around, shaking his head. "I already told you who did it! It was Aleasă a Inimii!"

Clawd tightened his grip, baring his teeth. "Who is he?"

Damien gritted his teeth. "I'm not allowed to say," he yelped when Clawd dug one of his nails into his back.

"Tell me!" Clawd growled, pushing his claw in so far that blood began to bubble out of the wound.

Suddenly, someone else rushed in the room.

"Damien!" Anna shouted, leaping on Clawd and attempting to bite him. She did not succeed, for Clawdeen grabbed Anna off and pushed her against the wall.

"Listen, you-!" Clawdeen was cut off when Anna suddenly punched her in the mouth, and she automatically released her. Anna sprinted over and pulled Damien away from Clawd's grasp with surprising strength, and the two grabbed each other by the hands and ran off.

Clawd was amazed. "How is that girl so strong!?"

"Because," Anna suddenly leapt back in the room, kicking Clawd in the jaw. "When I became a vampire, I got powers that made me able to lift twice my own body weight when I'm in these situations!"

Clawd stumbled backwards in surprise, recovering from the blow to his jaw. Romulus, however, was not amused. He snatched up Anna's wrist, and promptly doubled over when he received a kick to the groin. But, he did not lose his grip.

Anna tried desperately to break away, and she nearly did, but Clawd, Romulus and Brock all pushed her against the wall at the same time. They held her there for several minutes, and soon she stopped struggling. Her shoulders relaxed, and she glared at the wolves holding her captive.

"What was it you wanted?" she rasped, sounding furious.

"Who is Aleasă a Inimii?" Romulus asked, tightening his grip on the girl's shoulder.

Anna looked away. "Not allowed to tell you," she murmured. She looked up at Clawd, and her face softened. "I'll tell you this much: Eris told Aleasă to have sex with Howleen and get her pregnant. He said no, but then Eris threatened to kill his baby daughter. And Eris doesn't make empty threats, so Aleasă said yes and got your sister pregnant. He didn't want to, though."

Clawd raised an eyebrow, releasing his grip somewhat. "So, Eris forced someone to rape my sister?"

Anna nodded. "Yeah, and he feels terrible about it."

This changed everything. Clawd had felt so much anger towards the person who hurt his sister so deeply, but they hadn't wanted to do it in the first place? This was all very confusing.

All of the sudden, there was the loud rumble of many feet down on the floor below them, the second floor. Anna looked down, her eyes becoming wide. "Oh, yes!" she got out of the wolves' grasp. "Yes, it worked! They're free!" she said excitedly. She dashed out of the room, leaving the intruders in Eris' suite.

"She's weird," Clawdeen stated finally. "Should we get out of here?"

Clawd took a glance around the room before answering. "Yeah, we should leave before anyone else shows up. Come on, let's go."

On the roof, the party seemed to be going all right. Holt had collaborated with Naomi, the female DJ, and both their music put together created a loud atmosphere. But since most of the other party goers were drunk or on some kind of drug, they didn't seem to notice. Frankie felt bad, she was supposed to be taking notes for Jackson about clues, but so far the only things she had noted were Tessa's dragon tattoo and a scar on Graverobber's left wrist, and those were probably mere coincidences. Duece and Cleo were currently sitting on the edge of the pool dipping their feet in while Graverobber and Tessa talked with them.

"My twin was inside that lump!" Gaverobber said triumphantly as he concluded his tale. Cleo hadn't been paying attention, since she found the fashion magazine she had brought more interesting. Duece, however, was fascinated by this story.

"Then what happened?" Duece asked, leaning closer.

Before Graverobber could continue, Damien came rushing over. He smacked a hand on Graverobber's shoulder.

"Intruders!" Damien hissed, surprising his friend. "In our suite!"

Graverobber was very alarmed. "Wait, what?! Damien-!" before he could say anything else, Damien sprinted away, weeded through the crowd and disappeared.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "He runs everywhere. John, you should cover the bitch in grapeseed oil, that way he slips and kills himself."

This got Cleo's attention. "Grapeseed oil!?"

Suddenly, there was a crashing sound and a chorus of horrified shrieks. Everyone looked up in surprise as more vampires had suddenly run in on the scene. Duece recognized them; they were the straving vampires from the second floor. Now free, they rushed around aimlessly, and soon they began leaping off the building, transforming into bats and flying off. Some of them grabbed food off the refreshment table before doing this.

" _NO!_ " a voice screamed. It was Eris. She rushed over and began to wave her arms wildly. " _FOOLS! GET BACK HERE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!_ "

The last to fly off was a mother with two small children, and despite the fact that they seemed young, they managed to safely take flight as bats. Soon, all the second floor vampires were gone.

Everyone was silent. They all stared at Eris, waiting for her reaction. Finally, she tossed her wine glass on the floor and yelled, " _WHO SET THEM FREE!?_ "

"I did!" a female voice cried. All heads turned to Anna, who was looking defiantly at Eris. "I set them free. I created a wiring system that, by the push of a button, automatically unlocks all doors in any given hotel area."

"Anna!" Damien rushed over, grasping his girlfriend by the shoulders. "I told you not to do that! Do you have any idea what Eris will do to you!?"

"Yes, Anna!" Eris snarled, her voice sounding a bit strained. "Do you have any idea what I could do to you!?"

Anna suddenly pushed Damien away from her. "You don't own me!"

"I don't, I'm just trying to keep you safe!" Damien's voice cracked, and he sounded desperate. "Anna, listen-!"

"You took me away from my family when you bit me!" Anna yelled, stalking away. "And I'm leaving to find them again!"

Eris suddenly ran after Anna, kicking off her high heels to pick up more speed. Anna saw this, and began to run faster. She leapt off the side of the building, but unlike the others, did not turn into a bat right away. The transformation didn't take place until she was just a few feet off the ground.

And then, it happened.

Clawd's car had taken awhile to start up, so when it finally did, his foot hit the gas pedal immediately. He accelerated forward, but something dark colored and heavy collided with his car and broke the windshield. Clawdeen, who was in the passenger seat, yelped in surprise.

"What was _THAT!?_ "

Clawd got out of the car, taking a look at the damage. "What the actual hell?" he looked down on the pavement in front of him, seeing he had hit a bat. The bat's fur melted away, revealing itself to be Anna.

Clawdeen saw this and got out of the car, kneeling down to feel the vampire's pulse. After a moment, she looked up at Clawd and shook her head.

"She's dead."

Clawd looked up at the roof, seeing someone looking back down at him. For a long time, Damien and Clawd's eyes were locked in cold contact. Finally, Clawd looked away.

"Let's go," he said, his voice shaking.

Up on the roof, Damien stared down at his dead girlfriend with an unreadable expression. He turned away, walking very slowly and staring at his feet. Graverobber stood up, going to Damien and attempting to comfort him. Damien responded to this by shoving Graverobber in the chest, stalking to the refreshment table and tossing the entire bowl of punch in the pool. A good amount of the liquid spilled on Tessa, who yelped and nearly tumbled in the pool. Damien disappeared into the building, leaving everyone speechless.

Feeling a mixture of emotions, Frankie wrote down what she had just seen on her notepad. However, the pen slipped from her hand when Eris came and smacked her on the back of the head.

"Get out of here!" the older vampire screamed. "You're just a spy, anyway!"

Cleo suddenly stood up. "You brute! Don't strike my friend!"

Eris got face to face with Cleo, showing off her teeth. "You don't tell me what to do!"

Without warning, Cleo drove her hand to Eris' stomach, and a sound that almost sounded like knuckles cracking rang out. Eris crumbled to the ground, blood spurting from her nose as she lay there in shock. Cleo stood above her, eyes narrowing in silence. She then turned away.

"Come along, Duece. Let's call a cab home."

Duece looked honestly quite shocked as he took Cleo's arm and the two left the building. Eris sat there on the floor looked dumbfounded until two other vampires began to help her up.

It took a while before the party got going again. The rest of the night was just a blur to everyone, and at five in the morning, Jackson woke up on the DJ table with a throbbing headache.

Grunting, Jackson heaved himself up, arching his back until it cracked. He took a look around him, his brow furrowing at the smashed beer cups and cake plates. There was even a pair of men's underwear draped across his foot. Jackson rolled his eyes.

"Dammit, Holt!"

He made his way around the area, stepping over some passed out partygoers and a young couple copulating near the pool. After going down the stairs, Jackson looked around and began to call softly.

"Frankie? Draculaura? Duece?" he walked up the hallway of the top floor. "Anyone?"

"Jackson, is that you?"

Jackson looked up, seeing Graverobber approaching him.

"Graverobber!" Jackson felt somewhat relived to see him.

Graverobber gave Jackson a puzzled look. "I didn't see you at all last night! You were there, weren't you?"

Jackson shrugged. "Kinda," he changed the subject. "Could you explain last night's events to me?"

Graverobber rubbed his chin in thought. "Not quickly," he took Jackson by the hand. "But there's something I wanna show you, Jackie,"

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Graverobber led him into the elevator and to the presidential suite. After unlocking the door, Graverobber gestured to the couch in the center of the room.

Tessa was lying on the couch while Dodi stood by and hooked an IV into her arm. For a moment, Jackson didn't know why Graverobber was showing this to him, but soon noticed the tiny, squirming bundle cradled in the crook of Tessa's skinny arm.

"You had your baby?" Jackson asked in surprise.

Graverobber looked incredibly pleased. "Fifteen minutes ago."

Tessa stared down at the newborn with incredible fondness. "He's such a sweetie," she murmured, nuzzling him. "He's got your eyes, John."

Graverobber sat down, taking Tessa's free hand and gazing down at their son. "He's chubby, unlike you."

Dodi finished hooking up the IV, stating, "Okay, Tessa, with this IV, you don't need to eat constantly, but you can only have it when you're sitting, okay?"

Tessa wasn't really paying attention. "Uh, huh," she mumbled, letting the newborn grab her finger.

Dodi turned to Jackson, giving him a smile. "Hi, again."

Jackson just smiled as Dodi got up and left the room. Tessa fluffed the couch pillow, being careful not to unhook her IV. "I'm goin' to sleep, John."

"Are we still naming him Cricket?" Graverobber asked, picking up the baby. Tessa sighed.

"Whatever."

When she drifted off to sleep, Jackson went to get a better look at the baby. "He's adorable, John,"

Graverobber's head snapped up, and Jackson drew back quickly. "I-I'm sorry! Was I not supposed to call you that?"

Graverobber was silent, then he sighed. He hoisted his son up on his shoulder, patting his back. The baby snuggled against his father's shoulder, yawning as Graverobber spoke up again.

"Do you wanna know how I got my name?"

Jackson nodded, very intrigued. "Of course!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Confessions of A Corpse Thief

 _Suggested track: A Shot In The Dark- Within Temptation_

 **Warning: This chapter contains referenced violence and gore. You have been warned.**

Graverobber reached into the cooler beside him, pulling out a can of soda. He popped it open with just his thumb and brought it to his lips.

"I'm younger than most of the vampires here," He said, sipping down the drink. "I was born in the year 1858, on April 15th. My parents named me 'John Patrick Nolan', and sometimes my father called me, 'Jack' for short," Graverobber sat the can down; and he adjusted himself so he could hold his son in a more comfortable position. "But my dad died when I was twelve. He had a stroke, he was older."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jackson looked at him apologetically.

Graverobber sighed, looking away. "That's okay, I don't really remember him, anyway," he turned back to Jackson and continued. "When I was thirty, I started studying to become a surgeon. But the hospital didn't want me for some reason. I sent them a bunch of applications, but they never sent me anything back. Finally, a got a letter from someone I didn't know telling me to meet them down at the meat pie shop. I shouldn't have gone, but I was _really_ desperate. I showed up at the shop, and this woman came down from the upstairs room, which was a barber shop, and the woman was Eris,"

Jackson's eyes widened. "What…what did she want?"

"She heard about me, that I needed a job, and she wanted to help," Graverobber brushed a lock of red hair from his face, puffing out a sigh. "She told me that she needed swift hands to 'drain blood and remove organs from dead bodies', all for feeding some vampire residents she was taking care of. And…" he winced at the memory. "I said yes for some reason. But, I didn't wanna kill anyone. So, at night, I went to graveyards and dug up bodies. They had to be new, like dead for a few days, so I could get the most blood from them. It was really gross, but Eris paid me a lot for it. She gave me the nick name 'Graverobber' and sent me letters sometimes using that name," He chuckled softly, rolling his eyes. The smile soon left his face as he continued his tale. "But…one day, Eris showed up at my house all angry and shit. She was mad because apparently I shouldn't have been getting the stuff from dead people. I told her I didn't want to kill anyone, but then she made me want to." He fell silent, his eyes lowering to the newborn he held in his arms.

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked meekly. "She made you, 'want to'?"

Graverobber looked back up, holding his son close to his chest. "She bit me. She turned me into a vampire," he wiped at his eyes, almost like he was going to cry. "I started wanting blood after that, but she wouldn't give me any that had been collected. So, I had to kill. It was like when you're addicted to crack, weed, cigarettes or anything else, you want it so much you'll do anything to get it. I killed lots of people, mostly girls. And I don't know why, but before I'd go out on a hunt, Eris would give me a list of organs she wanted. But all I wanted was blood. Sometimes, before I'd give Eris the blood I'd collected, I'd drink a little myself, even though I wasn't supposed to."

Jackson looked at him with his mouth agape. "You mean…you were a murderer?"

Graverobber nodded solemnly. "The police hunted me, but they never caught me. I was too fast for those bastards. What I didn't know was that Eris was writing letters to the police behind my back, taunting them and pretending to be me. She started using my name to sign the letters, but not the name I have right now or the name on my birth certificate, but the name my dad called me: 'Jack'."

There was a pause, and Jackson covered his mouth with his hand. "G-Graverobber? Are you…Jack The Ripper?"

The baby in Graverobber's arms shifted and squeaked, wanting attention. Graverobber looked down, patting the baby's back before responding.

"Please don't be scared of me, Jackson," He looked up at Jackson, eyes full of tears. "I promise, I don't do that anymore!"

Jackson put his hand on the other's shoulder. "I didn't think you did. In fact, I didn't even…" he trailed off, seeing the remorse in Graverobber's eyes. They both fell quiet, and Graverobber dried his eyes and continued talking.

"One day, Eris and Dodi's dad died, and we had to leave. They both snuck us all on a boat full of fruit and zoo animals and that's how we ended up here. I met Tessa about…" he thought about it. "32 years later."

"I was twelve when we met," Tessa spoke up, sticking her arm in the air. "My parents threw me out of the house because I was a waste of food, and I thought if he bit me, my condition would go away," she groaned. "It didn't, but he and I did have sex."

Graverobber tried to smile, but it didn't work. He handed the baby off to Tessa and buried his face in his hands. Tessa sat up the best she could, cradling the baby with one hand and rubbing her boyfriend's shoulder with the other.

Jackson just sat there, scared and dumbfounded. He stared at Graverobber for a long time before Tessa spoke up.

"It's like 6:00 AM. Do you need a ride home? I know someone who could…"

"No, that's all right!" Jackson said quickly, standing up. "I-I can walk. No- wait- I have my car. I should find my friends and…"

Graverobber stood up suddenly and gave Jackson a hug. Unlike the quick hug he had given him when he first arrived at the party, this one was genuine and sweet, and it lasted for quite a long time until Jackson had to be the one to pull away. There was a silence, and Graverobber said softly, "Thanks for coming,"

"Thanks for having me," Jackson responded, nodding at Tessa before leaving. He opened the door, and turned back to look into the calm, pink eyes of Jack the Ripper before finally leaving.

In a separate room of the hotel, Howleen Wolf awoke to the feeling of someone shaking her shoulder. She lifted her head, seeing Valentine leaning above her.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said softly, giving her a smile.

Howleen's brow furrowed, and she sat up. "Did I stay here all night?" she asked lazily. "My friends are probably freaking out because they can't find me,"

"I saw Draculaura and told her you were with me," Valentine explained, getting out of bed. "Do you want anything to eat? I'll give you a ride home afterwards."

Howleen nodded. "Yes, please."

Valentine popped some little pastries into the toaster and waited for them to cook. During this time, Howleen came and embraced him.

"I had a great time just hangin' out with you," Howleen said delicately, nuzzling her face into his chest. Valentine stood there completely still, before bringing up a hand and hesitantly running his fingers through her hair.

"I…I had a great time too, darlin'," He managed to say finally, but his voice sounded somewhat distant, like his mind was focused on something else.

The clicking of the toaster yanked the two out of their thoughts, and Valentine was quick to pull away.

"They're ready!" he announced in an unnecessarily loud tone. He put the pastries on plates and began to squeeze a little package of frosting on both. Howleen took this moment to walk up to Valentine and rub his arm tenderly to get his attention.

"Valentine," she swallowed nervously, feeling a little heat come to her cheeks. "I-I don't know if I should say this, but…" their eyes met, and Howleen sputtered out, "I think I like you. Like, _really_ like you."

Valentine was completely silent. He took a deep breath, turning away. "You love me?" he managed to say finally.

Howleen looked down at her feet, chewing on her lip. "I…I…yeah. I love you."

Valentine suddenly shoved the plate into her hand and flopped down into a nearby chair, resting his head in his hands. "Please don't! Howleen, please don't love me."

Howleeen was surprised to hear this. Her eyes welled up a bit. "But…why?"

Seeing the hurt in her eyes, Valentine pulled a chair up next to him and motioned for her to sit. When she did, he took her hand in his.

"Howleen," he said in a soft voice. "I don't wanna hurt you. You're so young, and…and I don't want you to be hurt more than you already have,"

"But, you wouldn't hurt me, would you?" she asked innocently.

Valentine stared at her for long time before bringing his pastry to his mouth. "Do yourself a favor and stay away from me, please."

Sometime later, Valentine's car pulled up to the Wolf family house. The door opened, and Howleen stepped out. "Thanks for the ride," she smiled at him.

He cracked a weak smile. "Anytime."

She closed the door and dashed up her front steps, checking first to make sure all the lights were off upstairs. They were; her parents were most likely asleep.

As Valentine drove away, he looked at himself in the rear view mirror and had to look away again. "Disgusting," he murmured glumly, focusing instead on the road before him.

 **Hey again! Man, I finished this fast.**

 **I hope you've been liking this story so far! I've been working hard on it. So, that being said, feedback is much appreciated!**

 **Thoughts so far? Any thoughts on who might've gotten Howleen pregnant? Any other theories? Let me know in your review!**

 **Until next time, my fellow monsters!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: On Earth As It Is In Heaven

 _Suggested track: Stairway To The Skies- Within Temptation_

The ticking of the clock on the wall was the loudest thing in the room as Father Flanagan sat at his desk, mumbling to himself and writing down his thoughts for future church services. Close by, Felicity sat in a chair and flipped through her gossip magazine. After a moment, she stood up, going to her father and showing him a picture of a model in a perfume advertisement.

"Look at her dress, Daddy," Felicity smiled innocently, pointing a chubby finger to the model's shimmering gold dress. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Flanagan made a face, looking at his daughter with annoyance. "I can see her dirty pillows. Everyone can."

Felicity huffed, rolling her eyes. " _Breasts_ , Daddy. They're called breasts, and every woman has them."

Flanagan pounded his fist on the desk, startling his daughter. "Do not give me that attitude, young lady! Do you want to be locked in the basement again!?"

Before Felicity could respond, the slamming of a door and the pounding of feet was heard from the chapel. Flanagan's attention drew to the noise, and he stood up to see who was out there.

He entered the chapel with Felicity following him, and both saw Clawd Wolf lying completely crumpled on the altar, sobbing uncontrollably.

"C…Clawd?" Felicity called out meekly. She had never seen him cry before, and she didn't like it. He didn't seem to hear her, so Flanagan approached the boy quietly, kneeling beside him and patting his shoulder.

"Clawd, my boy," Flanagan said gently, taking him into his arms. "What seems to be the trouble? What has made you so upset?"

Flanagan smelled like cigarette smoke and old cologne, but Clawd tried his best to ignore that. He took a deep breath, mustering up the strength to talk.

"Flanagan," Clawd choked out, tears falling down his cheeks. "I…I did something very wrong and I need to confess!"

Flanagan nodded understandingly, handing him a tissue from a package in his pocket. "I see. Well, tell me your sins, my child."

Clawd then spilled out everything, about how they went to the party, how they broke in, and that he killed someone with his car. Flanagan just nodded, listening very intently.

"I killed a girl! I-it was an accident, I didn't mean for it to happen, but I killed her!" Clawd sputtered out, crying wretchedly. "Oh, God help me! Please, forgive me!"

Flanagan sat there silently before rubbing Clawd's back reassuringly until he calmed. Finally, Flanagan spoke.

"Clawd, I can't forgive you, because you did nothing wrong. The girl was a vampire; you did a good thing by killing her. If she had lived, she would've copulated with another member of her species and carried on the race of disgusting creatures. Don't weep and moan over that slut, she was nothing."

Clawd's mouth hung open and it remained that way for a few moments before he replied. "I don't think you get it. I could go to prison for this."

Flanagan sighed, shaking his head. "My boy, that's because the law here on Earth is very different from God's law, the true law. Vampires are vile, unholy creatures, and unlike us, they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven."

"What!?" Clawd's voice broke. He should've known Flanagan would say things like this rather than give actual advice. "But, one of the Ten Commandments says, ' _thou shalt not kill_ ', and I killed someone!"

"Ah, yes, but," Flanagan pointed to the list of Ten Commandments on the wall. "See there? It says, ' _thou shalt_ _not kill without reason_ '. You see that?"

Clawd's eyes widened in surprise. Indeed, that was what it said. Had Flanagan written in that part? It wasn't there before.

"It's okay, Clawd," Felicity walked over slowly, sitting beside him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You need to face the truth: just because you're dating a vampire doesn't make them all good," suddenly, she clapped a hand over her mouth, remembering she was supposed to keep that a secret from Flanagan.

Clawd looked back up at Flanagan, who was rising up slowly. All the serenity had left his hollow eyes and he stared at Clawd with a look of rage.

"You're involved…with a vampire!?" Flanagan's voice trembled with fury as his fist clenched at his side.

Clawd's eyes narrowed, and he looked at Flanagan defiantly. "Yes, I am. I love her very much, and-!"

He yelped when the older wolf smacked him over the head with a heavy copy of the bible. "Bow your head and pray!" Flanagan snapped, bringing the book down to smack him again. "Pray to Heaven for your wicked soul!"

"Daddy, leave him alone!" Felicity begged, running up and grabbing her father's arm. Flanagan responded by elbowing her in the stomach.

"Stay out of this, Felicity!" he snarled. Clawd had stumbled up to his feet and knocked the bible out of Flanagan's hand.

"Flanagan, _STOP IT!_ " Clawd screamed, backing away.

Flanagan picked up the bible again and grabbed Clawd by the wrist, staring into his eyes. "Don't you know the evil these vampires hold!? Can't you see Satan's passion has made you blind!? That vampire whore of yours, she's just like the serpent who crawls, and she'll lead to your downfall!" he shoved Clawd down into one of the church pews and loomed over him, shoving the bible in his face. "Vampires are truly evil! The sight of a crucifix will burn their very flesh! And as God himself says, ' _Once the blood is smelled, there is no turning back the evil of the bloodsuckers_ '!"

Clawd shook his head, pulling the bible away from Flanagan. "It doesn't say that in the bible, Flanagan! It doesn't say that anywhere!" Clawd flipped through the pages, pointing to a verse that stood out to him. "' _For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life_ '! See? Those words are real! Those ones, not the ones you said!"

"Daddy, he's right!" Felicity sobbed, recovering from where her father had hit her. "I thought we all were the children of God."

Flanagan snarled, ripping the holy book from Clawd's hands. "Foolish children," he muttered. As he passed his daughter, he turned to look in her red eyes. "Just like your mother, you don't know what's good for you."

With that, he went back into his office and slammed the door.

Much later, at the Wolf family's house, Howleen walked into the bathroom with a coffee cup in one hand and the memory stone Anna gave her in the other. Very quietly, she closed the door behind her and turned on the hot water in the sink. She ran the cup underneath it, and after it had been filled with hot water, she dropped the stone in.

Howleen sat on the laundry hamper with the cup, looking in to make sure the stone had successfully melted. When it had, the water became a milky white color and smelled of chlorine. Howleen made a face, but brought the porcelain cup to her lips nevertheless. She drank it all down, though it was very hot and somewhat sour, and when the cup was empty, she set it on the window sill and leaned against the wall.

Her brow furrowed. Other than the feeling of warm liquid settling in her stomach, she didn't feel anything different.

Howleen's thoughts were interrupted when Clawdeen knocked on the door.

"Howleen?" she called. "Clawnor says he left a pair of socks in there and that he needs them. If you're not busy, could you give them to him?"

"Uh, yeah," Howleen said, getting up off the hamper and grabbing the roll of socks off the bathroom mat. She opened the door, handing the socks to Clawnor.

Clawnor peeked in the bathroom as he took his socks, seeing the coffee cup. "Why are you drinking coffee in the bathroom?"

Howleen rolled her eyes. "I'm not, Clawnor. I was just-!" suddenly, she got a head rush and fell to her knees, letting out a surprised yelp. Clawnor dropped the socks in surprise, bending down to look at his sister.

"Are you okay?! Are you throwing up again?"

Clawdeen came rushing in, stopping and examining what she was seeing. "What happened?"

Howleen sat up, gasping and trying to catch her breath. Clawdeen sat beside her, taking her into her arms.

"Howleen?" Clawdeen asked softly. "Do you feel okay?"

Howleen stayed silent for a few moments before looking into her sister's eyes and answering. "I know who the father of my baby is."

Clawdeen gasped. "Really?! Who!?"

Howleen swallowed nervously, brushed a lock of hair out of her face and whispered,

"Valentine."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Show No Mercy

 _Suggested Track: What Have You Done- Within Temptation_

 **Warning: the following chapter contains sexual content and minor violence. Viewer discretion is advised.**

Clawdeen's nails dug into the wood floor, and a snarl ripped from her mouth. "What?!"

Howleen sat up, examining the memories that had returned to her. "Yes, I remember. That…woman, Eris, I think. She grabbed me by the arm, and put a blindfold on me, then she took me into…some room and the door slammed. Somebody took the blindfold off me, and it was Valentine,"

Clawdeen began to pace, glaring at the floor. "I am gonna _KILL_ that bastard! I knew he hadn't changed for good! I'll kill him, and then that weird Eris chick!"

"Clawdeen!" Howleen piped up, her voice cracking a bit. "Please, don't hurt him! Please, he didn't wanna hurt me. After he took that blindfold off of me, he said he was sorry for what he was about to do. He…he started to take my clothes off, and he was being very gentle."

"Did you tell him 'no'!?" Clawdeen demanded, clenching her fist.

Howleen bit her lip, looking away. "I…no. it's just, he's my friend, and I didn't really know what he was doing at first. I only said, 'no' when he tried to take my bra off, and he left it on. He kept saying he was sorry, and it sounded like he was about to cry or something. And then…" Howleen looked down at her shoes, remembering what it felt like. "It hurt. It hurt really bad, but Valentine was going really slowly. He kissed me a couple times and asked if I was okay, and when I said I wasn't, he went even slower. It still didn't feel good, but then…"

Clawnor suddenly covered his ears and whimpered, and both sisters realized they had forgotten he was even in the room.

"This is weird, Howleen," Clawnor frowned, looking disturbed.

"Clawnor, go to your room," Clawdeen snapped. Clawnor gladly disappeared down the hallway and into his room.

When he was gone, Howleen sighed. "When he finished, he got up off of me and leaned against the wall and started crying. I gave him a hug, and he asked me to forgive him. I told him I did, and then everything went black." She felt her face heat up, and she looked away. "After that, I woke up in that alley and saw the symbol."

Downstairs, the door slammed, and Clawdeen peeked to see who it was. "Ah! There's Clawd!"

Clawdeen dashed down to her brother, grabbing him by the arm and startling him.

"Clawd! You'll never believe what Howleen just said!"

Clawd rubbed his eye, sighing. "What?" he sounded incredibly uninterested.

However, within the space of thirty minutes, Clawd found out what Valentine had done, called together those involved in the investigation, and drove to Valentine's house in Jackson's car.

Once the car pulled into the driveway, Clawd jumped out and ran to the door with Clawdeen and Draculaura following him.

"Don't kill him, Clawd!" Draculaura tugged on his sleeve nervously. "Please, don't hurt him."

Clawd simply growled low, ringing the door bell and glaring at the door. Moments later, Vampira answered, looking rather confused.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Do you need something?"

"Is Valentine here!?" Clawdeen asked, getting right in Vampira's face.

Vampira pushed the she wolf away, looking alarmed. "No, he's out with his cousin, Dodi! They went to her place for the afternoon. Now, if you insist on being like this, I will call the police."

Clawd's eyes locked with Vampira's for a moment, and he turned and walked back to the car. Draculaura and Clawdeen followed, and the group was on their way to the hotel.

"Guys, please!" Howleen begged. "Please, don't hurt Valentine! He didn't wanna hurt me."

"Howleen, dear," Cleo sighed, putting an arm around Howleen. "Look, bottom line is he raped you, and do you know how the DeNiles deal with that?" When Howleen shrugged, Cleo smirked. "All we need to do is position our fingers just right, get a hold of their physical energy, pull and…" she made a popping noise and mimicked something falling to the ground. "They've been castrated!"

Duece grimaced, moving away from her a little. "Okay…well, I didn't know you could do that, Cleo."

Cleo looked incredibly proud of herself. "Done it before. It was easy."

Howleen shook her head, pressing her fingers against her temples. "But I don't wanna hurt Valentine! I forgive him for what he did, and you guys should, too!"

The car stopped at a red light, and Jackson turned to look at Howleen. "Howleen, listen: it's great that you forgive him, but he still needs to be punished for that."

"But should he be?" Frankie piped up. "Judging by what I've heard, it seems like Eris forced him to do it. If anyone needs to be punished, it's Eris."

The car pulled in behind the hotel, and the group of friends got out. Clawd walked around to the front, seeing the door was chained shut. "Well, they've learned," he mumbled, looking for a way to get in. Jackson showed up, and gently pushed Clawd aside.

"I'll try to get in first," he explained. "I'm on good terms with some of the residents here." He knocked on the door a few times, and then began to call. "Dodi? Graverobber? Tessa? Anyone?"

After a few moments, a window right above them opened, and Graverobber called down, "Yo! Jackson, up here! Try to climb up here, use the awning!"

Very cautiously, Jackson climbed on the dumpster and tried not to fall in. He managed to climb on the awning and, with help from Graverobber, successfully entered the building through the window.

As Jackson caught his breath, Graverobber explained, "We had to chain up the entrance because Eris didn't like getting visitors she didn't want. But the stupid thing about that is that we aren't allowed to leave."

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "But you just let me in!"

Graverobber shrugged. "I did, and Eris is gonna punish me for doing that." He rolled his eyes. "She's probably gonna make me clean the urinals again. Ick, that was awful." He changed the subject, saying, "I'm trying to get out, though. Even though Tessa has all the food she needs right now, she's gonna run out eventually, and if I can't leave, I can't buy her any more. And that won't be good."

there was a smash down below them, and Jackson quickly looked out the window, seeing the others had broken the door down and were entered.

Graverobber saw this too, and he gasped in surprise. "No, not again!"

" _JOHN!_ " A voice screamed out.

Graverobber and Jackson turned around, seeing Eris standing there. "This is the last straw, John! And you too, normie boy!" Eris lunged towards Graverobber, but he dodged out of the way. She leapt at him again, grabbing him by the hair.

"Do you know what I think I'll do first?" Eris hissed into his ear, tightening her grip on his head. "I'll kill your baby. Then, I'll kill Tessa. And then, you."

Graverobber let out a screech, reached his hands forward and ripped the front of Eris's top open. She screamed, standing up and releasing him.

"Look what you've done!" she shrieked, staring down at her ruined shirt front and exposed naked breasts. "I can _never_ wear this shirt again!"

At this moment, the others came rushing up the stairs. Cleo took one look at Eris's front and gagged.

"Disgusting! There's no way those are real!"

Eris hissed, covering up her nakedness. "Well, well, look who's back!"

Cleo lurched forward and acted like she was going to attack Eris, and Eris took a step back. Cleo smirked. "What? Afraid of little old me?"

"What's going on!?" Valentine walked quickly down the steps, and Clawd lunged at him right away. Valentine yelped, dashing back up the stairs with Clawd and Clawdeen chasing him.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Howleen yelled, going after her brother and sister.

They chased him up another flight of stairs and to Eris's suite, where Valentine threw the door open and ran inside. He ran right past Tessa, who was on the couch nursing her baby.

"Val?" Tessa asked in surprise. Suddenly, Clawd and Clawdeen ran by, and Tessa let out a scream. This startled her baby, and he began to wail.

Howleen ran in, and she stopped to look at Tessa.

"I'm sorry!" Howleen apologized, brushing Tessa's arm as she ran after her siblings.

Valentine locked himself in the bathroom, climbing inside the bathtub and closing the curtain to hide himself. Outside, Clawd pounded on the door and began to claw at the doorknob.

"We know you're in there, Valentine!" Clawd snarled, sticking his claws in the key hole. "And we know you knocked up my sister! Now, come out!"

Valentine cowered in the bathtub, absolutely terrified. "I'm sorry!" he gasped out after a moment. "I did it to protect my daughter! Anne means the world to me, and-!"

Suddenly, a wolf paw came crashing through the door, and Valentine screamed, " _NO!_ "

Clawd and Clawdeen broke in, and Clawd drew back the shower curtain, reached in and pulled out Valentine by his hair. Clawd then proceeded to throw him on the floor and kick him over and over in his side.

"Now, you'd better tell me," Clawd growled, positioning his foot and kicking harder, getting a sharp cry out of Valentine. "Why did Eris make you rape my sister?" when Valentine didn't respond right away, Clawd kicked him again. "Answer me!"

Valentine wheezed, curling up and pressing his eyes shut. "I…I don't know! She never said why!"

" _LIAR!_ " Clawdeen barked, raking her nails down the vampire's neck. "You know!"

Valentine desperately tried to push them away. "N-no, I don't! Please believe me!"

At this moment, Howleen leapt in front of Valentine, swiping her hand forward and scratching Clawd's face, drawing blood. Clawd gasped, backing away in shock. They all fell silent, then Howleen turned to her sister and pushed her in the chest.

"Go away!" Howleen snapped. "Leave him alone!" When Clawdeen got a safe distance away, Howleen knelt down beside Valentine and looked him over. "Are you okay?"

Valentine took several deep breaths, sitting up and burying his face in his hands. Howleen wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his shoulder. She looked up at Clawd with a glare, and her siblings stared right back in awe.

Meanwhile, Jackson and Frankie arrived on the third floor. Jackson looked at the door to Eris's suite, exclaiming, "They're probably in there!"

However, Dodi came rushing over with Damien following her. "What's going on!?"

"Dodi, I'm sorry, but there's a disagreement between our werewolf friends and your cousin, Valentine!" Jackson explained quickly, opening the door. Tessa came stumbling out with her baby, grabbing Dodi by the wrist.

"They're beating up Valentine!" Tessa screeched, limping away and falling into the arms of Graverobber.

Clawd came out of the bathroom, and in the doorway of the suite, Damien caught a glimpse of him.

" _YOU!_ " Damien hissed, sprinting in Clawd's direction. Damien and Clawd began to wrestle on the ground, but soon Damien pulled out a gun and pressed it against Clawd's face.

" _STOP IT!_ " Dodi screamed out, stopping everyone dead in their tracks. When Dodi screamed, it was loud and shrill, and she almost sounded like Eris when she did it.

After a moment, Dodi sighed. "Everyone, calm down. I know you're all very upset, but if you stop fighting, I'll tell you all Eris's plan and why she wanted Valentine to do what he did."

Jackson looked around, asking, "Where's Eris?"

Dodi swallowed nervously, saying, "I'll get to that later."

 **Hiiiii!**

 **I just wanted to update before I had to leave to drop my brother off at college. In case you haven't already guessed, unlike my other stories, this is going to be more than 13 chapters. I'm not sure how many chapters will be needed to complete this, but we'll just see how it goes, all right?**

 **So, where do you think Eris is? Why did she want Howleen pregnant? Any theories? Please share them with me in your review!**

 **Until next time, fellow monsters!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Everybody's Been Fooled

 _Suggested Track: Everybody's Fool- Evanescence_

Somehow, Dodi managed to get everyone in the room settled. However, no one could get Damien to stop glaring at Clawd or Clawdeen to stop extending her middle finger in Valentine's direction.

Dodi sighed, standing up and sweeping her hair from her face. "Eris kept her plan to herself, really. Though she couldn't keep me from finding out what she was up to," a smile flashed on her lips briefly, but then she returned to her serious expression. "Eris hates werewolves, as most vampires do. But even someone like Eris must admit that once in a while werewolves have amazing strength and speed. Even though Anna, while she was alive, had super strength, Eris wanted someone other than Anna,"

When the now deceased girl was mentioned, Damien looked down at his shoes and clasped his hands together, sighing. Dodi looked at him sadly, then continued.

"After doing research, Eris found out that the mixed genes of a vampire and a werewolf would make an extremely powerful hybrid, and if trained and given steroids regularly, this creature would become the ultimate, dangerous weapon. And TVC would have it and use it against their enemies."

Howleeen shifted in her spot somewhat uncomfortably. Was she really carrying something potentially dangerous inside her?

Dodi cleared her throat, looking away slightly. "Of course, she had to find a vampire who was willing to impregnate a werewolf, or the other way around. Finally, she began stalking the Wolf family and decided Howleen would be the perfect mother for the creature, and Valentine would make the perfect father."

"But why Howleen?" Draculaura spoke up. The others had forgotten she was even there. "There are plenty of other female werewolves."

"It had to be someone Valentine knew well," Dodi explained. "Originally, Clawdeen was preferable since she was older, but Eris felt like Clawdeen would be very difficult for Valentine rape, even if drugged,"

"Damn right," Clawdeen growled under her breath.

There was a pause, and Dodi sighed. "Eris' plan, though, wasn't complete. She had the parents of this strong, supernatural being, but she needed suspects. Two others who would make sure Valentine didn't immediately get blamed for the rape. And those two were Damien and Graverobber."

Damien remained focused on the floor, but Graverobber looked up in surprise. "What!?"

"It's true, John," Dodi admitted. "Eris was using you two to make sure that when Howleen's memories were drained, she'd just remember you two and nobody else, ensuring you would get blamed."

Graverobber stood up and paced, looking distressed. "I don't believe this! She was using us the whole time!?"

"Yes, you idiot!" Damien snapped suddenly, staring Graverobber directly in the eyes. "She was! You're stupid if you didn't figure that out! She was using you to kill those whores, and she used me to hold her father down while she slit his throat! Don't you see?! She's always been like this!"

Jackson looked up at Dodi, seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Dodi," he called softly, and she looked up, wiping her tears away.

"It's all right," Dodi assured. "Well-it's not, but…" she suddenly twitched a little and gripped the sides of her head like she had a headache. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Eris's obnoxious voice filled the room.

" _DODI! YOU BRAT! I KNEW I COULDN'T TRUST YOU!_ "

Everyone except Graverobber, Valentine, Damien and Tessa looked around in confusion to see where the voice was coming from. Jackson looked back at Dodi, and his mouth fell open when he realized Eris's voice was coming from her.

"Eris-!" Dodi choked out, but the voice of Eris mingled with her pleas.

"That's the last straw, Dodi! Now, you must be dealt with!"

A good amount of Dodi's hair went from black to white within a few seconds, and she cried out, "Eris! Eris, please, no!" more of her hair whitened, and she stumbled into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Everyone sat in horrified silence, until a pained, gurgled cry rang out from the bathroom. Damien stood up and ran quickly to the bathroom, going inside and closing the door behind him.

"What the hell?" Duece murmured, and Graverobber sighed in response.

"So you don't know?" Graverobber asked quietly.

"Know what?" Draculaura asked nervously, looking towards the bathroom.

"When Eris and Dodi were twelve years old, Eris died of cholera." Graverobber explained. "Dodi missed her twin so much that she made a deal with a witch to bring her back to life. But, something went wrong and now Eris and Dodi share the same body."

Jackson stood up, looking over at the door with wide eyes. Dodi wrestled with Eris the same way how he wrestled with Holt. He ran to the door, knocking on it and jiggling the handle.

"Dodi!" Jackson called. "Dodi, come one, let me help you! Please, let me-!"

The door swung open and Jackson became face to face with Eris. Eris pushed him in the chest, stalking past him and screaming, " _NONE OF YOU ARE WORTHY! NONE OF YOU! YOU WILL NEVER TAKE MY CREATION! NEVER!_ " She suddenly grabbed Howleen by the arm, but before she could do anything, the crack of a gunshot echoed through the room.

Eris gasped in surprise, and she slowly let go. She looked down, seeing blood dribbling down from her chest and from behind her back.

A few feet behind her, Damien stood, pointing the gun at her with a twisted smile on his face. His eyes locked with Eris's, and she stumbled forward and collapsed on her hope chest, sliding down and landing face first in a pile of clothing.

Damien continued to smile, then he pressed the gun against his head, and before anyone could stop him, another gunshot rang in the room. He swayed, tripped and went crashing through the window in Eris's room.

" _DAMIEN!_ " Graverobber screamed, rushing to the window. He looked out, and Jackson and Frankie looked out behind him. Damien had landed in the dumpster below the window, right near where Clawd hit Anna with his car.

Graverobber turned away, a terrified look on his face. He could not speak, and he did nothing until Tessa approached him quietly with their baby in her arms.

"Cricket wants you," Tessa said softly, handing the child to his father. Graverobber took his son into his arms and pressed him close, beginning to sob.

Jackson put a hand on his shoulder and just kept it there, occasionally glancing out the window at Damien's body in the dumpster.

From where Eris had fallen, there was a coughing sound. All the attention turned to that area, and Dodi struggled to sit up. She coughed, flinging a thong off her face and looking around in surprise. She rubbed her eyes, and began to cry.

"She's…she's gone…Eris is gone!" Dodi wept as Frankie and Draculaura helped her up. "I'm free, free at last!"

As everyone recovered from what they had just seen, Howleen turned around, and her brow furrowed. "Um, guys?"

Heads turned to her, and she said nervously, "Clawd, Clawdeen and Valentine are all gone."

 **Ooooooooh cliffhanger again! Man, I suck, don't I? Ha!**

 **Where do you think Clawd, Clawdeen and Valentine went? Can any good come of this? Let me know what your thoughts are in your review!**

 **So, until next time, fellow monsters!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Promise

 _Suggested Track: Missing -Evanescence_

The knock on the office door was loud, urgent, and Father Flanagan quickly got up from his desk and answered.

Right away, Clawd and Clawdeen came threw a very startled Valentine on the floor in front of Flanagan.

"Here he is!" Clawdeen snarled. "This is the guy who raped Howleen!"

Valentine struggled to get up, but Clawd pushed him back on the ground with such force that Valentine yelped. Flanagan nodded with approval at this.

"It seems my prayers were answered, Clawd," Flanagan smiled, reaching down and pulling Valentine up by the shoulders. "The good Lord finally brought you to your senses. Now, it's time to show this filthy heathen that the wages for sin is death!"

Valentine folded his hands, looking at Flanagan pleadingly. "There's a child who deeply needs me! Please, sir, let me go! She needs me!"

Flanagan rolled his eyes, sighing. "I've heard that one several times from ingrates just like you. You're a vampire! Let your child die."

Suddenly, without warning, Valentine reached up and tore a clump of hair right from Flanagan's head, screaming, " _YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT!_ " and attempting to bite Flanagan.

Flanagan, however, reacted quickly and opened up the door of a nearby prayer closet, shoving Valentine inside, slamming the door and locking it.

While Valentine pounded on the closet door from the inside, Clawd felt a cold, sick feeling creep into his chest. He swallowed thickly and asked, "Flanagan, are you just gonna keep him here to torture him or-?"

"Oh, believe me," Flanagan looked at the door with a wicked smile. "He will get what's coming."

Inside the closet, Valentine pounded on the door one final time before stopping and collapsing to the ground, giving up. He didn't know what was going to happen to him, but he hoped he came out alive. Not because surviving another day was important to him, but because being there for his daughter was what mattered most. As Valentine pressed his face against the wood of the closet, he desperately wanted all this to just be a dream, and that he would wake up soon to the sound of his little princess crying for him. Anne Marie was probably crying right now, just like she always did whenever her papa wasn't there. That was such a sad thought to Valentine, since right before he left that day, she had smiled at him for the very first time.

Valentine felt himself wanting to cry, so as a way of comforting himself, he pulled out his phone and opened up his photos. A consoling bliss filled his body as he scrolled through all the photos of his daughter, starting with the very first photograph of her in the incubator. That had actually been the first time he'd seen her, since the day of her birth was such a blur. Before she was born, Valentine actually had a bit of resentment for her. Every time he got heartburn, back pains, or nausea, he blamed Jared and the little parasite that sucked away everything. But, when Valentine saw her in the incubator looking so helpless and fragile, all his anger melted away and he just wanted to care for her.

Smiling, Valentine scrolled through the pictures, each one bringing back a sweet memory. The most recent one he had taken was when she had a fever. Anne Marie wore nothing but her diaper as she lay draped across her papa's lap, her fist curled and her eyes pressed shut. Valentine remembered how warm she felt beneath his hand, how when she whimpered, he'd press the damp washcloth against her back and hum softly to calm her. He didn't get much sleep that night, but at least Anne did.

It then occurred to Valentine that he was holding a phone. He could call for help! Fingers trembling, he opened his contacts and scrolled through each one, thinking about who could help him. His mother? No, she was watching Anne Marie. What about Dodi? She'd been through enough that day.

He heard footsteps out in the office, and he acted quickly. He was about to dial 911, but somebody started calling him. Valentine recognized the number as Graverobber, and he answered right away.

"Valentine, where'd you go?" Graverobber asked. "We're all looking for you and Dodi's really-"

"John, you have to listen to me!" Valentine said in a strained voice. "Please, I'm locked inside a prayer closet at a werewolf church! I don't know what they're going to do to me, please, help!"

"A prayer closet?! Jesus Christ, yes, we'll help you! I'll get everybody together, don't worry!"

"Thank you! Please hurry!" Valentine took a deep breath and hung up. He looked at the wall, and the eyes of Jesus on a picture stared back at him. Valentine's eyes searched the interior of the closet, seeing pictures on each wall, all involving Jesus' crucifixion. All except for the one to Valentine's left, which was just a simple pencil sketch of Jesus. In the picture, He had His hands extended forward, and his eyes were full of compassion. Underneath the sketch were the words, " _I came not to call the righteous, but sinners_ ".

Valentine reached his hand forward, touching Jesus' hand gently with his own. His eyes stared into the eyes of the picture, and he said softly, "Please, have mercy on me,"

The door opened, yanking Valentine out of his emotional state. Flanagan saw what Valentine was doing and snatched up his wrist.

"You delusional, sick bloodsucker!" Flanagan yelled, pulling a rope from his pocket and tying Valentine's wrists together. "Jesus won't help you! You creatures are from hell itself, and when judgment day comes that's where you will be!"

Flanagan dragged Valentine to a wooden post outside the church, binding him there. Valentine looked up into the werewolf's eyes, and felt compelled to ask, "Why do you hate vampires?"

Flanagan didn't respond. He just gritted his teeth together and tightened the rope on the vampire's wrist, getting a pained grunt from him. Valentine took a deep breath and tried again.

"I'm very sorry for what I did to Howleen. She trusted me and I violated that trust,"

Flanagan was not meeting Valentine's eyes. "You don't even understand what you've done," he murmured, sitting beside the post and looking away.

"But I do," Valentine sighed, looking down at his bound feet. He was then reminded of when Jared held him captive in that awful shed, for he had been tied in a similar way, just to a chair that time. With much reluctance, Valentine further explained. "Jared Andrew Parker was the name of the man who hurt me. He was relentless in what he did, and I even had a child from him. I still haven't recovered from what happened, and I don't think I ever will," he swallowed hard, not taking his eyes off Flanagan, who still wouldn't look at him. "If something awful happened to you with vampires, then I apologize for all of them, for my whole species. Please forgive us all, we weren't all born evil."

Flanagan stood up suddenly, whipping around and glaring at the one he held captive. "Don't mock me! You may continue to spit lies in my face, but don't mock me!" he turned away, crossing his arms and lowering his head. After some silence, Flanagan spoke. "My daughter was five years old, and my wife was three months pregnant. They were going to our local fair, and I had a church meeting and stayed behind," his voice broke, and he went quiet again. Valentine heard him take a deep breath, and realized that the façade was finally crumbling. Flanagan ran a hand through his hair and continued. "I still don't quite know what happened, but a group of vampires, a gang, attacked my wife while my daughter played in a petting zoo area nearby. They were merciless; they beat her, kicked her and violated her until she miscarried. And here she was-believing there was a way to get vampires and werewolves to make peace. She loved everyone and had mercy for everyone, including vampires. But they abused her and took the life of our unborn son," Flanagan looked back up at Valentine, and looked away again quickly. "I even started to feel compassion for you creatures, too, but then you destroyed my family. After the miscarriage, my wife, Promise, committed suicide. But I will forever blame her death on vampires!"

There was a pause, and Valentine said in a gentle voice, "That's awful. I'm very sorry that happened to you, it must've hurt. You really loved Promise."

Flanagan suddenly wiped at his eyes, but his sorrow turned back to rage. "S-shut up! Now, listen-tonight, you will get what you deserve, and none of your syrupy nonsense is going to stop me!" at this moment, other wolves began to create a crowd around where Flanagan stood with Valentine.

Valentine's brow furrowed. "Wha…what are they here for?"

"To do what the Lord our God commands us to do when there is a sinner in our midst," Flanagan reached into a nearby basket and pulled out a round stone. "We stone that sinner to death!"

… **and thus ends a chapter with another cliff hanger! This was gonna be longer, but I just don't have the energy at the moment. But, next chapter will be really epic, I promise!**

 **Man, that power outage or whatever that was made me go a little crazy. Anyone else?**

 **Ah, well. So, please review this chapter and give me your thoughts! I would love that very much.**

 **So, see you next chapter, fellow monsters!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Never Sleep, Never Die

 _Suggested Track: Whisper (Demo V.3)- Evanescence_

" _NOOOO! NO, NO, NO!_ "

Another chair flew across the room and fell to the floor. Clawdeen snatched the chair up and set it right side up, glaring at the one who was making the ruckus: her sister, Howleen.

"How could you!?" Howleen sobbed, collapsing to the floor. "We were all friends! You can't do this, you can't let Flanagan kill him!"

Clawd knelt down beside his sister, trying to help her up. "Valentine betrayed us. He ruined our friendship and he needs to be punished!"

Howleen suddenly shoved her brother in the chest, snarling, "You're a mutt! Do you hear me?! A stupid, mangy mutt! You guys can still be friends! _I'M_ still his friend!"

"Don't say that, Howleen!" Clawd snapped. "He raped you!"

Howleen stamped her foor, hollering, " _SHUT UP! I HATE YOU!_ "

" _ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!_ "

The three siblings all turned to the doorway, seeing their youngest brother, Clawnor, standing there holding his BB gun.

"I'm tired of all of you arguing!" His ears flattened against his head as he walked towards his brother and sisters. "You guys have never been this mad! Come on, it's like what mom says: what would Jesus do?"

There was a silence, and the severity of what Clawd and Clawdeen had been saying and doing finally hit them.

"Oh, no," Clawdeen gripped the sides of her head, guilt sinking in to her. "Clawd, what have we done?!"

Clawd stood up straight, taking his phone from his pocket. "I'll call our other friends, we'll go rescue him!"

"I'll come, too!" Howleen piped up, but Clawdeen pushed her down on a chair.

"You need to stay here. We're gonna take care of everything!"

"But- no!" Howleen stood up quickly, but Clawd and Clawdeen had run off, leaving Howleen and Clawnor alone.

They were quiet, until Clawnor turned away. "I'm gonna go, too!"

"They won't let you, Clawnor!" Howleen snapped in an annoyed tone.

"Then let's sneak out!" Clawnor suggested. "Come on, I brought a BB gun!"

Howleen sighed, standing up. "Fine. We'll go save Valentine on our own!"

Meanwhile, a rather large crowd of werewolves had gathered around the church backyard as Flanagan began to speak.

"Dearest friends! As you know, a member of our congregation, Howleen Wolf, was brutally raped by a bloodsucker. Or, as you might know the term, vampire!"

Snarls and barks of rage rose up from the crowd, and Flanagan put out a hand to silence them. "Today, my friends, I have brought this vampire before you all, and we will stone him like the sinner he is!"

"Please!" Valentine spoke up suddenly. "Please, I didn't want to hurt Howleen! I'm sorry!"

A rock flew from the crowd and smacked Valentine in the jaw, making him yelp. Another one hit him in the shin, and these were the only two rocks that struck him before the screeching of tires got everybody's attention.

Flanagan looked into the distance in confusion. "Who are they?"

Everyone's questions were soon answered when two large tour buses with the letters "TVC" painted on them pulled up in the church backyard, and several vampires leapt out of the buses and opened fire on the unsuspecting wolves.

The wolves shrieked and howled, running away and avoiding bullets. The vampires jumped out of the tour buses, and the war began. The vampires simply shot at their targets, while the werewolves snuck up on them and brutally attacked them.

Flanagan hadn't moved from his spot. He just stood there and watched the fighting until he heard a shrill scream. Much to his horror, three vampires had gotten a hold of Felicity and dragged her to the bushes as she struggled to get away.

"No!" Flanagan snarled. "Not again!" he leapt off and attacked the three assailants, pulling them from his daughter. Felicity stumbled to her feet while her father wrestled with his worst enemies, and she ran towards a familiar car nearing the church. Jumping in front, she began to pound on the windshield with her fist until Clawd stepped out of the car.

"Felicity, what's going on over there?"

"It's a fight!" Felicity squealed. "A bunch of vampires showed up, and they're shooting at us!"

Draculaura stepped out of the car, staring at all the fighting in horror. "All this fighting is terrible! Come on, we need to stop them!"

"No," Frankie pulled out her phone. "What we need to do is call the cops!"

There was a gunshot and a startled bark, and a few seconds later, Romulus came limping over to the group of friends. Clawd gasped in surprise.

"Romulus! Oh, no, did they hit you!?"

Romulus grunted, falling to his knees and revealing the bullet wound on his shoulder. "I-it's not so bad," he tried to assure, but then someone else approached.

"Get out of here or I'll blast your tiny wolf brain out,"

Jackson, upon seeing this, quickly jumped out of the car. "Graverobber! What are you doing?"

Graverobber only looked up briefly at the boy. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna blow this sucker's head off."

Jackson dashed over and stood between Romulus and Graverobber, looking up in Graverobber's eyes. "Come on, don't shoot! Can't we work this out?"

"Not until you say what those little wolves did with Valentine!" Graverobber retorted.

"Little wolves?" Clawdeen asked in surprise.

Graverobber responded by pointing the gun in her direction. "Don't play dumb with me! Your little sister and a little wolf boy ran inside the church over there! What are they doing with him!?"

Rather than responding, Clawd screamed, " _NO! CLAWNOR, HOWLEEN!_ " he ran in the direction of the church at top speed, avoiding the fighting the best he could. A jack knife belonging to a vampire nearly sliced Clawd's neck, but Clawd got away just in time.

Finally, he managed to get inside the church, and right away saw Howleen and Clawnor running up the stairs to the bell tower with Valentine.

" _HEY!_ " Clawd yelled, stopping the three in their tracks. "Where do you think you're going!?"

"We're gonna go hide in the bell tower," Howleen explained to her brother with a glare. "And Clawnor brought a BB gun! So don't bother getting Valentine!"

Clawd sighed, going to the bottom of the stairs and looking at Valentine with absolute earnestness. "Please, I won't hurt anybody, I promise. I've been acting pretty stupid, and…Valentine, what almost happened to you was my fault," he walked up a few steps, his eyes meeting with his sister's rapist, his enemy, and yet his friend. "I'm sorry for everything."

Valentine blinked back some emotion, taking a deep breath and saying, "I'm the one who should be sorry, and I am."

This moment was soon interrupted by two gunshots and a chorus of screams, and they were very close to the church's front door. Clawd quickly motioned for the three to go upstairs.

"Go!" he said sharply. "Hide in the bell tower! You'll be safe there."

In an instant, Clawnor, Howleen and Valentine dashed up the stairs. A few moments later, the door burst open and Flanagan stepped in. in one hand, he held a bloodied knife, and in the other he held a clean wooden stake.

"Where's the heathen we were going to stone!?" Flanagan growled, glaring at Clawd.

Clawd's eyes narrowed, and he blocked the stairway and crossed his arms. "You won't get to him, Flanagan. Now, let it go. I have."

Flanagan got in Clawd's face, an unfathomable look of rage in his eyes. "Tell me."

"No," Clawd said simply. "What would Jesus do?"

Without warning, Flanagan plunged the knife into Clawd's stomach and threw him to the ground. Clawd gasped for air, struggling to his hands and knees and watching in panic as Flanagan ran up the stairs.

Inside the bell tower, Howleen slammed the door shut, taking a breath. They were safe, but for how long?

Clawnor went to the window and looked out at the backyard, remarking, "Whoa! Some of those guys have flame throwers!"

Valentine sat down on a wooden crate, looking out the window with despair. "TVC has any kind of weapon imaginable. Everything except tanks, grenade launchers and anything nuclear."

Howleen leaned against the wall, putting a hand on her stomach and breathing deeply with a pained look on her face. Upon seeing this, Valentine stood up and offered her the crate to sit on.

"Do you feel okay?" he asked as she sat down. Howleen nodded, leaning her head back.

"Y-yeah. I just feel kinda nauseous," she rubbed her stomach, then extended a finger to poke it. "I wonder how the baby feels right now. Do you think it can hear?"

Suddenly, the door handle began jiggling, and the door swung open. There stood Flanagan, baring his teeth and holding a wooden stake above his head.

"It's time to die!" he roared, lunging towards Valentine. Valentine tried to get away, but Flanagan grabbed him by the hair and pressed him against the wall, holding the stake to his neck.

Valentine struggled underneath the wolf. "No- please!" Flanagan grinned murderously, moving the stake down to the vampire's chest, positioning it over his heart.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Howleen tackled Flanagan, trying to wrestle the stake away from him. The two werewolves struggled with each other, until Flanagan slammed Howleen to the ground. He flipped her over and stood above her, raising the stake high in the air.

He grinned madly, snickering, "If you won't kill your child, then I will! _And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked!_ " though, before he got the chance to strike, the older werewolf gasped abruptly. He froze and gripped his chest, doubling over and dropping the stake.

Valentine took a step forward, recognizing what was happening. Valentine had heart problems, and he had acted the same way Flanagan was acting when he first experienced cardiac arrest.

"Hey-!" Valentine tried to call out, but it was too late. Flanagan stumbled backwards, desperately trying to take in air while he fought with his failing heart. He collapsed to the ground, and looked up at the stain glass window of Jesus above him. He stared for a long time, then breathed one last time and fell to the floor.

Everybody else in the room just stood there in shock, and then Clawnor began to cry.

"God, where are you?!" he sobbed. Howleen touched his hand softly, and the sound of police sirens wailed outside the window.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: New Life

 _Suggested Track: When You Believe- Celtic Woman_

That night, ten members of TVC died, and about half of the werewolves died as well. Many more on both sides were injured.

"Okay, kid? Kid, what's your name?"

Clawd's eyes flickered open, wincing at the pain he felt in his abdomen. He looked up at the paramedic standing over him and answered.

"M…my name's Clawd," he rasped out.

"Okay, well, Clawd, you're gonna be okay. We're gonna take care of you, all right?"

Clawd nodded weakly, closing his eyes and sighing. He felt his hot, sticky blood on his jacket, and he wished this entire incident never had happened.

Farther away, two paramedics wheeled Flanagan out of the church with a sheet covering his body. All the other wolves just stood and stared at their fallen leader, bowing their heads solemnly. That is, until Felicity ran up.

She had a look on her face that no one had ever seen her wear. An almost painful, shrill cry escaped her lips as she ran to the stretcher and collapsed on her father's body, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Daddy!" Felicity bawled, her tears falling rapidly. "Daddy, no! Please, please don't be gone! _DADDY!_ "

One of the paramedics rubbed her shoulder, and Brocko approached from behind one of the bushes and took Felicity's arm gently, quietly leading her away.

Most of TVC were captured by police, though many of them escaped prison. But one vampire who the police never touched, and never had been able to, was Graverobber. Nobody quite knew where he had disappeared to, but Jackson watched as Graverobber helped Tessa and Cricket into one of the tour buses.

Graverobber turned and waved to his normie friend, saying, "I'll call you!" Jackson wiped a tear from his eye, and waved goodbye to history's greatest criminal, Jack the Ripper.

The story was all over the news. After the situation with Harmony, the group of friends were tired of being interviewed and seeing their names on the news, but nevertheless they once again dealt with microphones being shoved in their faces and cameras watching their every move as millions of viewers stared them down.

"So, is it fair to say this experience completely changed your life?"

Howleen looked up into the eyes of the talk show host. She knew what this woman wanted her to say, that it had been changed and that nothing would ever be the same. That her life was ruined, that she'd never heal. However, this was not Howleen's response.

"Not completely," Howleen said softly. "I'm still me. I still have my friends, my family, and I'm still friends with Kieran Valentine," when she said his name, murmurs of discontent rose from the audience. Howleen glanced out to the audience briefly before returning her gaze to the interviewer.

"The only things that are different are all these memories I have now, all these things I've seen that I know I'll never forget. And, I'm pregnant, and I'm keeping my baby," once again, more mumbles of disapproval made themselves known, but Howleen ignored them this time. It had been a few months, so the baby inside Howleen stirred underneath her skin, and she just rubbed the place where she felt it. "This baby _won't_ ruin my life like everyone says it will."

The months carried on, until one very special day arrived. It was February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day. Howleen was still continuing school, and on this date, she watched a film about space travel with her science class. That is, until her water broke and the entire class began screaming (except for Howleen herself). She was taken to the hospital, and by the time school let out, her labor had progressed and she would soon give birth.

Therefore, the Wolf family once again found themselves in the hospital waiting room, but this time the air was lighter. The atmosphere was actually joyful. Though the events over the past months had been reminiscent of a nightmare, a new little soul would soon arrive and become one in the family.

It wasn't just Howleen's family in the waiting room. Most of the group of friends waited there as well, including Icer, who sat on Heath's lap and enjoyed a bottle of milk.

"Look at him," Heath grinned, running his hand over the youngster's head. "He can hold the bottle by himself, now! Isn't that cool?"

"It is!" Draculaura cooed, poking one of Icer's cheeks. "Can he pick up anything else?"

Abbey, who sat beside Heath with a nature magazine, rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes. He throw things, his blocks and shoes. He hate wearing shoe, don't know why."

Draculaura rubbed Icer's head gently, then looked up to Clawd with a pleading expression. "Are you _sure_ you don't want a baby?"

Clawd's eye twitched. "Honey…"

The conversation in the room died down, and it got very quiet all of the sudden. Draculaura looked up, seeing that Valentine and Vampira had entered.

Valentine looked around the room awkwardly. He tried to smile, but he couldn't seem to, and he tried to back out of the room. Vampira took his arm and led him inside the area, smiling at the others in the room.

"Hi, there," Vampira said softly. "How are all of you?"

Everyone was silent, until Harriet stood up and shook hands with Vampira.

"We're all right," Harriet smiled, and then turned to Valentine. Her smile faded a bit, and she looked Valentine up from head to toe. Valentine tried to leave again, and once again Vampira held him back. Harriet remained soundless, but then she took Valentine's hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. "I'm so glad you decided to come. I can't imagine this must be easy for you."

Valentine nodded glumly, looking away. "I…I just came to see if Howleen was okay. Is she? I mean, did she have the baby?"

Harriet shook her head. "It'll be a while before that happens. The doctor said she's not fully dilated, so all we need to do is wait until someone tells us she's ready. I'm gonna be with her when it's time, but," she rubbed her hands around Valentine's and posed her next question carefully. "Would you like to be with her, too? Would you like to watch your baby be born?"

Valentine's entire facial expression changed from a depressed one to a surprised one. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he uttered in almost disbelief, "Y-you mean you'd let me?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Clawdeen spoke up, giving him a warm smile. "It's your baby, after all."

"Yeah," Valentine perked up a little, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "It is, isn't it?" he deflated a little, and he hid his face. "It's just…it's so hard! I spent so much time trying to clean up my image, and then this happens! And now…" he swallowed hard, choking on his next words. "My first daughter, my little Anne Marie, got taken away by social workers!"

Draculaura gasped, getting up and comforting her friend. "Oh, no! That's awful! They took her because of what you did?!"

Valentine took a deep breath, trying to contain his emotion. "Yes! They said I was 'unfit' to care for her, that she deserved better. And…honestly, she does."

"That's not true," Vampira rubbed her son's shoulder, biting her lip and blinking back tears. "We're going to get her back; you're the only one who could ever truly love her."

Clawd walked up and touched Valentine's arm, saying, "I can help you get her back, if you want,"

Valentine looked at Clawd, and then at the rest of the others in the room. It was at this moment that he broke down, burying his face in his hands and sobbing. "God, I've caused so much trouble!"

"Valentine," Clawd watched him sadly, and then gave him a hug. Valentine hugged back, weeping into the wolf's jacket for a few minutes before feeling more warmth around him, and then turning and realizing that all their other friends had gathered nearby. Within the space of just a few minutes, Valentine received quite a few hugs and an occasional kiss as he was surrounded by the love and forgiveness his friends offered. He gladly soaked up everything he needed to momentarily stop his tears and finally smile a real, genuine smile.

Before everyone finally had a chance to calm down, the door opened and a nurse walked in. "Hi, everyone! Howleen's ready and dilated. Who's coming to watch?"

"We are," Harriet spoke up. She took Valentine by the hand, giving him a reassuring smile. "Come, on, let's go."

When the two walked in, Howleen was actually very surprised to see Valentine.

"I didn't think you'd come!" she exclaimed gleefully, trying her best to hug Valentine despite her contractions and large belly. "This is so exciting, isn't it? It's just-!" she suddenly squeaked, grabbing her side and taking a breath. "Ah…it hurts!"

Harriet took her daughter's left hand, kissing it tenderly. "You're going to do great! Just breathe and listen to what the doctor tells you,"

Valentine watched as Howleen tilted her head back and pressed her eyes shut, breathing sharply through her teeth. Very carefully, Valentine wrapped his hand around Howleen's and rubbed it gently, and she gave him a weak smile.

The doctor arrived, and right away spread Howleen's legs and commanded her to push. She did as she was told, and repeated this about three times before the doctor announced, "Oh, yes! There we go!"

A soft yet noticeable cry was heard, and the doctor went and laid the fidgeting, wet creature on Howleen's chest, letting her get a good look at the newborn while he cleaned it.

Howleen couldn't get any words out of her mouth as she stared down at this little stranger, the tiny foreigner she'd carried for so long. Howleen laughed softly, running her hand over the small head and finally managing to ask, "Is-is it a boy or a girl?"

The doctor smiled, wiping birth water from the baby's nose and furry wolf ears. "You have a little girl, Howleen."

Howleen grinned, sighing with relief and looking up at Valentine, who looked incredibly proud. He stroked his new daughter's hair gently, watching as she calmed down and stopped crying. The doctor tucked the towel around the baby and fit a little cap over her head, saying, "Congratulations, she's beautiful."

Harriet wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed Howleen's head, then leaned down and kissed the newborn's head. "Oh, my goodness! I'm so proud, she's so lovely!"

Howleen, however, just rubbed her daughter's back, inspecting her with absolute affection. "You're so lucky to be here," she choked out, dabbing at her eyes and patting the little one's back. "You've have no idea how lucky you are."

 **All right, so…that's actually the end!**

 **But don't worry, there's a sequel! Yes, another one. I'm might start work on it…I don't know when. School's been eating up most of my time and I'm participating in a stage production this fall, so I may not post very much.**

 **Nevertheless, "SERENITY" is coming soon! Don't miss it!**

 **So, review this chapter if at all possible and give me your thoughts on just this whole story in general! I'd be very happy to hear your opinions.**

 **Until next time, fellow monsters!**


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